


Eat The Rich! (Damie Actress/Fashion designer AU)

by LaurysPrince



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Actress!Dani, Angst with a Happy Ending, CustomShop!Jamie, Eventual Smut, F/F, Family Drama, Famous!Dani, FashionDesigner!Jamie, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29023458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaurysPrince/pseuds/LaurysPrince
Summary: Dani is a thriving actress with a secret and a mysterious death in her family.Jamie is a quiet fashion designer with a custom shop and a life that isn't as boring as she says it is.A new tragic event causes a shift in Dani's fragile life, and her world collides with Jamie's own. Neither of them was ready for it.A porcelain vase on the edge of a glass table.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Edmund O'Mara, Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie, Hannah Grose/Owen Sharma
Comments: 36
Kudos: 49





	1. A Shift In The Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dani's life and a phone call that will change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I can't stop thinking about this AU, I just had to write it.  
> Hope some people enjoy.  
> Also I'm not sorry for the title lmao.

Danielle Clayton had been used to the aggressivity of flashes from a young age. That being said, even behind sunglasses, she would always blink after the fourteenth flash directed to her eyes. This sensitivity to lights had always been a burden, especially considering the conditions of the life she led. And with the flashes always came the questions. Just like the flashes, these question would be thrown at her without any logical order or warning. Some of those were simple, which she generally could answer to.

_“Miss Clayton? Danielle?” “How are you today?” “Can you say anything about season 3 at all?” “Owen Sharma was confirmed as series regular this morning, does that mean a new love interest for you?” “Fans are waiting for the new trailer, can you tease anything?” “Will you be directing an episode again this season?”_

But along with them came the harder, more intimate questions. The ones she never answered.

_“What did your mother think about your debuts as a co-director last season?” “Mr. O’Mara, any plans for a proposal?” “Where will you spend your valentines day?” “Are your parents pressuring you for grandchildren?” “Miss Clayton, do you think your acting carrier will be affected after you start a family?” “Is that why you’re still not considering-” “Mr. O’Mara, what are your thoughts on this?”_

The strong hand settled on her lower back bring her comfort as she blindly walked along the pavement. This hand guides her up the stairs of the building and she is thankful for the support she gets whenever this happens. Edmund had always been better at faking sympathy. She could do it when needed, but her nervousness would always take over after a while. On the other end, and she envied him for it, Edmund could keep his huge smile and sparkly eyes for as long as he wished. Just like now, as he let Danielle enter the hotel first and waves back at the paparazzi, always kept outside by the guards.

The sudden silence settles around her like a comforting hug from the atmosphere. She breathes out the tension held in her chest and fills her lungs with the empty air of the great hall. Her eyes adjust to the solid lightning, blinking away the ghosts of those aggressive flashes. She mechanically waves at the front desk and the staff by the couches and follows Edmund in the elevator.

Twenty-five floors later, they get to their home : the Empire State Penthouse Suite of the Langham Hotel on the Setai Fifth Avenue. The floor-to-ceiling window enlightening the living area offered a direct view on the Empire State Building, hence the name given to this penthouse.

A prestigious space to make a home, this penthouse was designed with Roche Bobois signature pieces, Maison Lacroix and Paul Smith. The walls were kept white to welcome in the light coming from the great window, or were covered in sombre tones and vertical wood boards by the opened kitchen on the right. The door in the corner of the kitchen separated the great living space from the other rooms that needed water conducts : the bathroom and separate toilet, as well a laundry room. Further into the living area on the left of the kitchen was an elegant sitting space facing the great window and was framed by a massive carpet. The living room was the centre piece of the designers, with notes of blue and purple in the seats, cushions and the carpet as well. Further on the left past the living area was a quiet space designed in sombre tones, much like the kitchen was, with an office area and a reading area with bookshelves. After the quiet area were the accesses to the two bedrooms this penthouse came with, both designed in blue and purple themes, echoing the living area.

Both Edmund and Danielle fell in love with this penthouse the first time they visited it. They were quick to make it their home where they could shelter away from the world.

“Ugh, finally…!” Edmund groaned immediately after he closed the door behind them, getting rid of his suit jacket and freeing his posture from it. “Some privacy… Dani, I think I need a massage…”

“Think it’s the most precious thing we have.” Dani had sighed, finding relief after finally taking her heels off. “And I’m not massaging you, unless you massage my feet first.”

“Ew, gross…” he chuckles to tease her. “And yeah, it’s the most precious thing we have because it’s probably the only thing we actually struggle with…” Edmund thought then, watching as Dani walks away and further into the penthouse’s living room on the left.

“Oh, only thing we struggle with, uh?” she grins after turning on the standing light by the couch. “You mean besides the flashes that have been traumatizing my optical nerves since I was five… or the death threats, and the stalkers, the weird love letters from that guy that lowkey wants to lock me in a basement…”

“The constant mediatisation of your dad’s death.” Edmund offered then with a playful twinkle in his eye, accentuated by his round glasses he slide up on his nose.

“Ouch.” She grimaces as she laughs with him.

Dani had learned to laugh rather than cry about it. Not about her father’s death, of course, but about the drama that always surrounded the tragedy ever since she was a child.

“You know they mentioned it in the article for Entertainment I did before heading to Paris? I’m here to promote a thriving show, and they still find a way to talk about my father? And they did the same when you were interviewed for Chief Executive, didn’t they? That and the fact you didn’t get me pregnant yet.”

“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t serve us well being this cute together.” Edmund grins, making Dani chuckle. “But people love a romance born from a tragedy. It’s very Shakespearian. Without our death, I mean.”

“You’re right. Can’t blame them I guess.” She plays along, coming to help him out of his tie. “ _The two lovebirds who survived the mediatic hunt._ ” She quotes theatrically from another article about them, which always made Edmund laugh. “ _From the demonisation of their mothers, the greedy rumours, and the tempting skin trying to tear them apart… I think we can all agree that what doesn’t kill them make them stronger._ ”

“What is it they called you in that one?” Edmund thought with a smile. “The virgin Danielle?”

“ _Danielle The Virgin_.” She nods, still shocked after three years. “They really went there, uh? They didn’t even choose a show from my network… Lazy… At least you had the cool image.”

“ _The man who just wouldn’t cheat_.” He recalls from the top of his head with a stupid smile. “Damn I loved that title…”

“Congrats on being a decent man, Mr. O’Mara! Clap, clap!” Dani applauds, mocking Edmund as he laughs about it too.

“Should see the things that happen behind closed doors.”

“Oh, God forbid they ever witness that.”

“You’re right, we might cause a few heart attacks… We’ll just have to remain cute for their eyes.”

“Yeah, but we are cute for real though.” Dani tells him. “It’s true! Look at us, all soft, and lovely, affectionate, and sweet...”

“And so damn gay.”

Both begin laughing together, finally away from the judgment and the scrutinizing looks outside. Finally able to be true to themselves together.

“They’re really blind, seriously, look at me!” Edmund shouts with a laugh. “My fashion style is way too good to be straight. I have a skincare routine, I go to the manicure, I have a flowery cologne, I use odourless deodorant… I make quiche!” he insisted on, making Dani laugh again. “Like– it’s getting offensive, not gonna lie.”

“They just think I dress you well.” Dani giggles, unbuttoning her jacket and loosening two buttons of her shirt. “And keep you proper. Being the very straight fertile girlfriend I should be.”

“I should’ve shaved the left side of your head before leaving Paris. Maybe you’d fit their stereotypical lesbian better.”

“Yeah well… I like my pink dresses and my long hair.” Dani tells him as she moved to the living room area.

She grabbed the hotel service brochure and sees, in peripheral vision, Edmund walking to the right and to the kitchen side, where the sliding door was. This sliding door led a corridor and separated the living area from the bathrooms. He let the sliding door opened, a code that let Dani know he was going to the bathroom to take a shower and she could still use the separate toilet.

“I’m starving, you want something in particular?” she asked then before Edmund isolated himself under the shower head.

“They still have the ricotta and cheese ravioli on there?” he asked louder.

“Uh… Yeah, yeah they do. I think I’ll get the same...” she decided, picking up the phone available to call room service. “Hey, wanna watch the final episode of the Good Place?”

“Are you going to spoil it to me if I say no?”

“Obviously.” She smiles.

“Then yes, I’ll watch it.” He said before closing the bathroom door.

Living a double life had been a choice they made together. A hard choice, but one that was necessary for them both. Their lives were already complicated as they were, unstable really. It was vital to make sure their coming out wouldn’t completely wreak their worlds. With Edmund’s grand-father being a Minister and involving the whole family in the church business, his mother being a proud housewife, and his brothers all being very much heterosexual, the poor boy had enough pressure on his shoulder as it was. So, naturally, he found solace in Dani’s company, and vice-versa for the Clayton’s only-child.

Dani knew her father, Victor Clayton, never hid his conservative and religious believes, and this straight-forward personally was what seduced Dani’s mother. After his death, Karen Clayton struggled with the image she gave of herself, as a single widowed woman taking the lead of a billionaire business on her own… People were not ready for powerful women at the time, and this was the reason why Karen put Alfred O’Mara, Victor’s best friend and Edmund’s father, at the CEO seat of the Corporation, without ever giving away the major parts of the business. Karen let Alfred become the face of the business, but she remained at the highest seat, the ultimate decision maker, and the one pulling the strings. She found power in the shadows rather than in the light. This new philosophy of power now let Dani, leading actress of an empowering show thriving with Millions of viewers every week, to now be the one struggling to prove her independence in the eyes of her mother. Even when she was booked as a regular and main actress for the show years ago, her mother still wasn’t convinced :

“ _You’ll have power the day they choose you for something else than your pretty face, Honey._ ”, “ _The words on the page aren’t even yours. A parrot with a nice body, that’s what you sold them._ ”, and so on, everytime…

Even when Dani told her mother being an actress was only the first step of her carrier, that she wanted to be behind the cameras more than in front of it, Karen Clayton just wouldn’t hear it :

“ _You showed your ass before you showed your brain. That was your biggest mistake, Honey. Now, good luck on getting them to look up and realize you have something else to offer…_ ” All this shaming for a 3-seconds bikini shot in the third episode of the first season. Dani had been working on this show for four years now, and had a collection of 30 episodes fully covered after these 3 seconds. A third season was on the way, and a fourth was already confirmed. Thousands of people praising her acting, admiring her philosophy during panels and interviews… But all these numbers weren’t enough. Mama Karen just wouldn’t let those three seconds go. So imagining having to tell her mother that she loved women, and only women… That Edmund was nothing more than her friend, and that everything that happened in three years had been a lie… Dani could picture the amount of judgment that would spill out of her mother’s mouth, and she would probably be drowned in it, and never recover this time. The thought of it was enough to give Dani a suffocating anxiety. Acting on it felt impossible.

But when she was sitting there with Edmund’s long legs covering her lap, and seeing him wrapped in the grey blanket all across the couch, Dani remembered living a double life with him had its perks. The boy had always been a goof around her, ever since they met on the playground, and he had kept this sensitivity as he slowly became a man. Their life could have been so different. It could also have been better, she believes, if their parents hadn’t been who they had been. If only they hadn’t grown up in luxury and fame, in the flashing lights and the judgment of every little thing they did. If only they hadn’t been pressured by everyone around them to turn their friendship into a romance. For the family, for the business, for the people and the media… Everything about them had been about image and artifice. They grew up in a materialistic world, and so they became products of it to fit in. Their lives were meant to be lived for other people.

Dani had been thankful, though, when Edmund pulled away when they both thought they were meant to kiss after their first date three years ago. This date, planned out of pressure, turned into a night of relief.

****************************

_“I’m sorry, I- I can’t.” he said, shaking his head and straightening his posture, leaving Dani confused in her own unwanted position here on this cold bench._

_“I- what? I thought-”_

_“Yeah, I thought too. But I can’t.”_

_“You don’t- you don’t want to…? Us?” Dani asked the best she could._

_“It’s not that, Danielle. I like you, really, I just-… It’s not that I don’t want to. I mean- I do, don’t want to. But, it’s more like… it’s more like I- can’t want to. You know?”_

_“That’s- not English.” was the only thing that left her mouth after this. “Like none of it was.”_

_“I’m gay.” was what left his mouth right after._

_And then silence settled around them as Dani took in the three words that had left her best-friend’s mouth. The best-friend she was expected to date publicly. A best-friend with a secret incredibly close to her own._

_“English enough?” he asked then, his eyes searching for Dani’s own._

_It was when he finally looked up and locked eyes with her that Dani saw the raw fear behind his glasses. And that fear, she remembered then, was the same she had seen in her own eyes when she had looked into the mirror the morning that followed her first night shared in the naked arms of a woman._

_“You’re-… You’re gay too?” she asked him._

_“Yeah, I been meaning to-… Wait.” He paused then instead of sighed. “Did you just say ‘too’?”_

_“What? No!”_

_“Yeah you did.”_

_“I didn’t!” she insisted._

_“You did! Oh my God, Dani, you’re gay too?!” he shouts._

_“Shut up!” she jumps with her hands forward to shut his mouth. “Yes, I’m- I’m gay too, Eddie, I’m a lesbian, I love women, now shush it…!” she whispers as quickly as she could._

_He still muffled the words against her hands, looking at her with those sparkly eyes, and she could hear everything too, and for some reason it made her laugh and it made him laugh. So she took her hands back and let him laugh with her as they both realize in which boat they shared now : rich, problematic sketchy parents, a weird death case, childhood best friends, and gay._

**************************

Sadly, all the previous etiquettes glued on their backs made it hard for Edmund and Dani to openly wear the last one. So, about a week after this coming out night, and just like they did years ago on the school grounds, they decided to play a game : play pretend and fake a life together.

It was not ideal, of course, but it was easier when they could still be true with each other. Easier than to come out to their conservative mothers, and to their intimidating social cercle made of rich business owners in Armani suites living in modern castles. Easier than to face rejection and abandonment from the only world they’d ever known. Easier that to face the media, the rumours and the hate, the threats. They already faced those without being entirely themselves, adding more to the fire was incredibly terrifying.

So they learned as they played. Being touchy and affectionate with the only true best-friend they ever had was like a second nature. From the hand holding to the hugs, the small attentions, fixing each other’s collars and hair in front of people and cameras… this caring relationship was genuine and they both found comfort in knowing they had each other’s back at all time. There had been a quick kiss or two to keep the suspicions at bay, but behind closed doors, Edmund and Dani were only ever platonic in their interactions and intimacy. Karaoke, tv shows, pranks, but also comforting cuddles whenever Edmund had a talk with his father, and soothing burrito blankets for Dani when she had a call from her mother... They cared immensely about each other, and were protective of that secret they shared. What they had was fragile, like a porcelain vase balanced on the edge of a glass table...

“Dani… Dani? Dan…? Danielle Clayton…!”

Dani jumped out of her thoughts at the shocking mention of her full name, coming right out of her best friend’s mouth.

“What was that for?” she asked, slapping his leg still settled on her lap.

“Your phone is ringing.” He pointed in front of her.

She curses under her breath and moves the heavy long legs off her lap to stand up. “It’s your mother. What did you do?” she teases.

“Oh my God, was it her birthday?!” he panicked.

“It’s next month, you goof.” She chuckles, seeing him visibly relaxed.

She walks across the carpet as to take some unnecessary distance and picks up the phone with a self-evading laugh.

“Hi Judy! How are you?”

_“Danielle? Is Edmund with you?”_ the mother asked, but her voice felt off.

“Hum- yes. Yes, he is, why? Do you want me to-”

_“He wasn’t answering the phone. I- Lord, how could I even tell him on the phone…”_ she prays, clearly in distress. _“I just got to the hospital and I- I can barely remember anything… just the doctor and then- then your mother holding me when he…”_

“Judy, are you- are you okay? What are you talking about?” she asks, Edmund sitting up, noticing Danielle’s worry for his mother. “What hospital? What happened?”

_“Alfred got into a terrible accident…”_ Judy tells her, which only alerted Dani even more.

Edmund could not hear the conversation. But he could tell by Dani’s facial expression that it wasn’t joyful. That it was bad news, which her mother never gave. In this instant he felt guilty for forgetting to take his phone out of his jacket when he took it off earlier. He was just so eager to forget about the rest of the world. And when Dani hung up, and turned to him again with tears in her eyes, he suddenly felt the urge to disappear even more.

“It’s about your dad.” Dani told him with the smallest voice. “I-... God... I’m so sorry, Eddie.”

In this very moment, as the weight of another death fell onto their life once again, Dani felt the shift in the balance.

The balance they had been so careful to keep at rest all these years. For everything that will come from this terrible news, every change, every decision made, will be the reason for the porcelain vase to fall off the edge and shatter at her very feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first Damie fic (published, lol, I have others) so hi!  
> I hope this introduction was enough to pick at your curiosity? Your interest? Your attention?  
> Comments are welcomed, I always answer to all of them :)
> 
> Next chapter : Miss Taylor comes to say hi at 6 in the mornin' for no particular reason.


	2. Hors d'Oeuvre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah finds a new gallery  
> Dani meets Jamie via Hannah  
> Eddie and Owen talk about grief  
> Dani contacts Jamie again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me much longer to write that one since I don't want to reveal everything and make super unnatural to learn everything in one monologue, but I also needed to settle the chacarters in time and in place in this AU so nobody would be lost, you feel me?
> 
> Anyways, enjoy I guess?

Drained. This word was the one to best describe the events of the two months following Alfred O’Mara’s death. Starting with Alfred himself, of course, his life drained and his smile only longing into memories of others. Friday nights were drained of this habit he had of calling Edmund, which he did only to ask his son about his week, to ask if he was happy and content, or if he had regrets about it so he could help him deal with an eventual issue.

_"Going to bed with a head full of past regrets won’t help you create new plans for the future, son. Come on, sit down for a minute, see if we can empty that head of yours.” He used to say when Edmund tried to avoid thinking and just wanted to go to bed. “We are businessmen, son. And ambitious ones. We can’t start a new week without being done with this one. And if we stay there, well, we might as well close the deals! The market won’t wait for us to reinvent itself. I know I’m just an old man with an old mind, but you don’t see me living with regrets and sad eyes, now, do you? So give your father five minutes of your time, see what I can do to help.”_

And it always worked, which only annoyed Edmund even more. Because his father was right and even if he had a sharp tongue to communicate it, even if he was not known for his delicacy, he still always made sure his son was not crushed by the weight of the world. He knew how to help him best, and he always fixed his son’s posture with a pinch on the shoulders or a poke on his back.

_"Your mother and I didn’t raise a shrimp, did we? Keep your head up, shoulders strong, back tall. You look like you’ve been defeated. Have you? If so, well, get up and fight a new battle. If not, why act like it? You see, if you show them your neck, you’ll get your head cut off on day. And that day when you lay dead, you’ll be truly defeated. But until then, keep your head up. Never bow, son. Not even to me. Now fix your posture before your mother punishes both of us. I want that tiramisu and it’s not a shrimp that’ll keep me from getting it.”_

Sharp and know-it-all most of the time, but always invested in his son’s well-being. Always upfront in his approach, but with a touch of gentleness and humour to make it tolerable. He was like this even with Dani. Oh, how he loved Dani… like his own daughter, he had kept her safe. After Dani’s father died, Alfred felt greatly responsible of her and Karen. He made a promise to his best-friend the day he helped the casket down 6 feet under, his hands red with the effort of helping his own best-friend rest under the earth he was still walking. That day was the only one he cried for Victor.

_“I remember Victor from ever since we were teenage boys.” He said as he begins his eulogy, standing by the casket in his long black coat, his nose red with the cold. “We were both full of ourselves, but we didn’t know much of anything, like any teenage boy. Thankfully, we grew out of it and made a life out of all this nothing. He was a pain in my ass, though, all along. Always challenging everyone, always trying to make a competition out of every situation… You always said you’d be the first at everything.” he said, looking at the casket, speaking to Victor._

_“First to kiss a girl. First to get a car. First to crash that car too… First to get married. First to reach the siege of the company… You’d be the first at everything. And you held onto that until the end, you idiot. But that one, my good friend, that one I won’t celebrate for you…” he said as a tear reached the edge of his eye, looking down as to try and stop himself from crying. “But I guess now I’ll have to prove myself to you, don’t I? And I’ll do it, alright, I’ll do it. See, your beautiful wife she’s been crying for days, and she’ll be crying for months, years even. But she won’t be crying on her own, ever. I’ll make sure of it, my friend. And your little girl? She’s just confused, really. She doesn’t understand why her father isn’t home anymore, and you’re a real pain for that one, Victor, because someone will have to explain why, and it shouldn’t have been on me, or anyone, because you should be home, but-… you’re my friend. And little Danielle here, she’s got your eyes, Victor… She’s a part of you, my friend, so I’ll take it upon my shoulders to keep that part alive for longer than you did. I’ll teach her algebra and I’ll kick the ass of the first boy to break her heart. I’ll help her reach the book on the top shelve too, and help her see beyond the crowd. I’ll put her right up here now.” He patted on his own shoulder, looking sadly over at Karen who was trying not to cross the distance to hug him. “She won’t drown, she won’t sink. Your little girl will be missing a father, and your wife, well, she’ll be missing a husband… but they’ll never be missing anything else, that I promise you, my friend. And I think that should be enough for you to rest in peace now.”_

Dani did not remember much of that day. A child and a funeral is not a memory the brain wishes to keep clear. But she did remember this moment, of Alfred giving his word to keep her safe and care for her. And he did so until the very end, discreetly, his affection always timid, never like a proper father to her. In her adult life, he did so by asking if she needed anything new in the apartment and by sharing his new deals with painters, sculptors, customizers, artists of all kinds, only to see if she liked their works and, eventually, to see if he could get her something new as a gift. Something new in her life, something to decorate her space and to embody his love for this little girl he had sworn to protect.

_“I got in touch with this Italian designer we talked about at the gallery. The one you liked most, yes. Well, I saw this standing light and thought of you right away!” He had said the day he showed up at the apartment with a gift. “I thought it would look quite good by the couch there. I remembered, when I saw it, you said you could picture it in this kind of space and, well, I couldn’t help myself. I hope you like it.”_

Dani had been more than happy about this lamp, designed delicately, pure, and in harmony with the atmosphere of their Suite. Alfred had always been materialist and gifts were his love language. He showered Judy and Edmund with things to fill the space around them, with pretty decorations, beautiful objects, and useful stuff. Like memories of his love, they could be felt, touched, held, and admired, frozen in time. He cared about everyone’s comfort in the space they lived in, and he cared a lot, that was what mattered.

But with this love language made of things, and the amount of love he had for his family, the O’Mara’s house now felt like a museum to his name. Every room was filled with a piece of Alfred, making the mansion a true memorial.

So with Alfred’s life now drained into the unknown, came Edmund, completely drained out of any more tears to cry. Dani had never seen him cry so much, had never seen so many of her shirts covered in wet patches so many times. And she was only one of the shoulders to have been offered to him. His mother, Judy, had been drained of her tears too. Judy, who was now a widowed woman sleeping in a bed with an empty side, on a mattress with an empty curve on her left, the ghost of a weight that will never come back. Judy, who lived in this museum of her forever love and always walked pass every piece of his love for their family.

Dani’s mother, Karen, had been the one to refill every cup of water and every flute of champagne during those two months.

_“Gotta keep these two hydrated.” She had said to Dani once. “With all these tears…”_

She did not mean it as a joke. Karen had her way of expressing care and affection to people, even to Dani. Another language of love that she knew could not please everyone. But it worked with Judy and Eddie, and so Karen did her best to support them through every step of Alfred’s funeral plans too. From the paperwork, to the open casket, to the wake, and the walk out of the cemetery’s gates and back home, all through the weeks of helping Judy adjust to that empty bedside, holding her, lulling her into sleep every night. Karen had offered to cover for all the costs, and offered her mind when Judy’s own was drifting back into morosity or when Edmund was struggling to even read a paper for the funeral home. Karen had been the quiet butler of the O’Mara family, and the most humble one. Both she and Dani had helped, of course, but Dani was more preoccupied with Edmund, which her mother understood and encouraged.

_“Make sure he eats when you get home.” Karen had asked of her. “Keep him warm too. Death is cold, grief is cold too. Everything is cold. Even him. He’ll become colder, and numb, maybe he’ll become harder to reach, even quieter. Death do that to you, Honey… But with the right people, we can avoid sinking into that. So, don’t let him sink too much, yeah? Keep him warm.” She had said before pulling Dani into a hug that lasted longer than any of their previous ones. In fact it lasted long enough for both of them to rediscover their lost closeness. Long enough for Dani to cry and to feel guilty for it, because her mother had been the shoulder everyone cried on. Judy, Edmund, and now Dani too._

_“It’s okay, Honey. Better on me than on him.” Karen had said when Dani tightened her hug while apologizing for it. “It’s alright.” She added, keeping Dani safe from the world a little longer._

Two months had passed. Two long months. Two months of dark grieving and supporting, of managing and of suffocating. And two months of incredible quiet. This, Dani made it her own personal mission : to keep the noise away from them. She made sure no interviewers, no paparazzi, no e-mail would reach either of them. They deserved the quiet she never got to have with her own father’s death. An incredible deal of a gesture, something to keep sane and to keep peace. Something to delay the inevitable. That moment when Karen had to break the ice under everyone’s feet, including her own… The wind that the shift in Dani’s world had caused.

_"Your father would want this for you.” She had said to Edmund. “He would want you to take his seat. Tried raising you for it. I know it’s early in your carrier, but if I’m honest, I wouldn’t give it to anyone else. That’s just how things must go. His place his yours. It was always going to be.”_

_“I- Karen, I can’t take this position.” Edmund argued, barely able to show any other emotion but the one of sadness and the feeling of not being deserving of it. “I’m not ready, it’s not- I’m not there yet, too young…”_

_“You’ll grow faster than ever now that you’re the only man your mother has.” Karen had said then. A harsh comment voiced with an incredibly warm tone. “Faster than you should, but you won’t be alone. I’m still up here, remember, it’s a Clayton supremacy.” She joked and it made his chuckle a little. “Now come on… I’m sure you know this talk was gonna happen anyway.”_

_“I don’t deserve it.” He bowed his head, becoming quieter. “I don’t.”_

_“Nobody ever deserves to sit on any throne, Eddie.” She had explained, a soothing hand caressing his back, making that same gesture Alfred did to help his son correct his posture, which worked once again. “I surely didn’t. But you just sit anyway, and you become deserving of it along the way at some point. You prove yourself. You don’t deserve to get to sit on it, but you will deserve to keep the seat after a while. I know you will. And so does your mother. And your dad knew that too.”_

And just like that, Karen got Edmund to have to think about the seat of his father at the CEO of their Corporation. He would be the youngest CEO and high seat in their business, and it won’t be easy for him. But he’ll be a younger face, a light of hope, with a much proper reputation than any other businessmen in their circle. Judy had only asked for one favour, which was for Karen to get her boy ready for the job, which Karen obliged to. It was her Corporation, her siege, and her friend’s son. She will make sure to make the transition as smooth it could be. Until then, Judy could breathe, Edmund could think, and Dani could exhale.

.

.

A week later…

Being able to walk around the city without getting her pictures taken from corner to corner became a luxury in Dani’s life. Today was the first day this miracle happened since Alfred’s death. She had avoided the avenues, chose the side streets and smaller corners of New York to go meet her friend in a quiet building. An old empty apartment complex in a discreet red street, designed with old bricks and old ornaments behind the gates. The interior was almost too French or too Victorian, she could not tell, for Dani to still feel like she was in New York.

Three floors, all incredibly pure and with separation walls. A perfect place for Hannah Grose, gallerist, art connoisseur and stylist enthusiast in search of a new place for her new project. David, who was her best treasure hunter for these places, left her the keys for her to visit this place again that day. Even Dani felt small once inside the great empty place.

“This is exactly what I was looking for.” Hannah smiled, so big Dani couldn’t stop herself from smiling to. “I can already picture it. Giant paintings on these walls, and enough space for display cases, all glass, maybe a tube type? Or maybe standard tall squared ones, keeping things clean with edges for people to wander around without bumping into each other... Oh, it’ll be just perfect. Completely different from the last gallery.”

“Display cases?” Dani asked.

“For the fashion girls, of course, not the visitors.” She said, but Dani did not register yet, and so naturally her friend had to explain her new ideas. “The fashion show will take place _in_ the gallery _during_ the event.”

“Oh, during? Isn’t that- messy?” Dani wondered.

“That is why I only asked for large paintings this time. Huge ones, actually, and these walls are just perfect!” she pointed out to Dani, who admitted these were uncomfortably large and empty. “I finally got in contact with these amazing painters from Eastern Europe. Those who paint these _massive_ canvases full of flowers and lands, very colourful, very bright and full of natures of all kinds. Considering how rich these are, I can’t expose too much this time.” She explained. “Filling the space with sculptures or artefacts of any kind will make this place suffocating and the people will need as much space as possible to admire each painting… They need to feel like they are in the scene. Part of the painting.” she said.

“That does sound wonderful, really but- what’s with the girls and the glass cases?

“For the fashion show. In the display cases.”

“You want to put the girls inside the display cases?” Dani asked way too confused.

“Dani, this is an ephemeral art gallery.” Hannah reminds her, making Dani laugh. “I need to tattoo people’s mind with innovative ideas. This time, my girls will be part of the art on display too!” she said loud enough to get the place to echo her voice a couple of times. “meant to be admired just as much as the paintings, and meant to be associated with each scenery. The three-dimensional art that make the paintings feel like they are the true décor you walk into, not just a big flat image hung on a wall.”

“As she gone into full daydreaming mode yet?”

Both women turn to the stairs with a shared smile, watching as Owen climbs up to join them in the immense empty space.

“Took you long enough.” Hannah teased.

“Had to find a way to get the producers out of my hair.” He complains but with an enthusiastic smile as he quickly falls into admiration for the space surrounding him now. “You really found the hidden treasure for that one. Waw! I can hear my echo three times!” he shouts louder on purpose.

“It really is perfect, isn’t it?” Hannah smiled bigger than ever.

“What’s with the producers?” Dani asked, distracted by her friend bringing up business into the conversation.

“Same thing as last time.” He sighs, sorrily. “They’re really thinking about that love interest for next part of the season. Wanted to try and ease me into it. Didn’t like it much so left after nodding and smiling and saying my wife is waiting on me. They felt uneasy and just let me go. But I don’t think they’re going to let go of that bone so easily…”

“Oh, come on now…” Dani groans. “This is getting ridiculous, we already talked about it before starting filming part A!”

“They said twitter seems to like the idea.” He added then, not convinced either.

“If they really cared about what the bird app had to said, I would have been Rebecca’s love interest half a season ago.” She said back, making Hannah and Owen laugh. “Oh but- wait! That’s different, isn’t it, because it’s not realistic…”

“Oh, to have a sapphic romance as their main love story?” Owen asks to tease her. “Nah…”

“Oh, they already have a black woman as a main character, don’t push the sapphic agenda on her too.” Hannah teased some more. “Can’t have more than one minority rep in the same character now… And black sapphics? Never seen one before, especially not in New-York!” she teased.

Dani just sighed through the shared laugh with her friends. These two made the perfect couple, especially in moments like this. Therefore they also made the perfect duo of friends.

“Oh, Hannah, Love?” Owen called, taking her hand in his to hold it for no particular reason other than to be closer to her. “I got a text from our favourite northerner, said she’s all set for the meeting with you.”

“Oh, fantastic! Thank you, Dear.” Hannah cheered, kissing Owen on the cheek. “Dani, would you like to come along, maybe?”

“Where to?” Dani asked looking between them.

“I have a friend to visit quickly. The fashion designer that will display her collection here, in fact.”

“Oh!”

“It’s not so far from here. Oh, it won’t take long, I just need to talk about the floor plans for the show, is all. She’s been so busy with it all, I’m sure she’d love a little company.” Hannah tried to convince once more.

“I don’t know, Hannah, I- my mom, she probably needs me back at the mansion with Judy…” she tried to excuse. “And Eddie… Gosh, Eddie…”

“Dani, I know it’s hard, and you know that I know it is…” Owen soothed. “We know Eddie is struggling. Anyone in his position would. But you need to take a break from all this, for yourself. And for him, really.”

“I don’t know, Owen…”

“It’s just an afternoon.”, Owen explains gently to her. “Just half of a day where you get to breathe fresh air. And maybe even bring that fresh air back home to them. Believe me, Eddie would rather see you coming back with a smile than seeing the both of you miserable. It would help him, actually, to have someone who can be happy when he’s not. Someone who can remind him what that feeling is. I remember when mum passed away, it help that Hannah was coming home with tones of exciting new stories. It wasn’t about distraction, more about remembering that, even with the massive weight of death, life is still the biggest part of us. And every new story meant life was still happening. That helped a lot.”

Dani’s eyes started tingling. The tears that had become so easy to let out were back at the edge of her eyes. Owen had a way with words, and his experience made it all the more powerful.

“Just one afternoon, Dear.” Hannah agreed and said again gently. “One new story.”

Dani’s heart was already in pieces these days, but having to decide between Eddie and Hannah was truly getting harder and harder. She wanted to go out more. The mansion felt suffocating, and being around so much grief made her own process of it all even harder. Going out, she found, reminded her of everything else, distracted her, filled her with new positive feelings. “Okay, fine.” She decided with a smile, shy and almost ashamed of her excitement for it. “But I need to go home before diner.”

“Of course!” Hannah smiled. “I told you, it won’t be long.”

“And you know what?” Owen began to offer with a smile, “Since I have my afternoon cleared, I think I’ll go and visit Eddie. Keep him company for a few hours if he’d like.”

“You’re an angel, you know that?” Dani asked, bringing Owen into a hug that was gladly returned, warmly.

.

.

Hannah had insisted on walking. She was known for always walking to every destination so long as it was in less than two hours of walking. And two hours of walking for Hannah was three hours for anyone other than her. Hannah rarely took the car, and only sat in a cab for emergency runs or weather issues. Her long and athletic steps had Dani almost trotting to keep track with her, but it felt good to feel her legs hurting from the effort. She felt alive, felt the beating of her heart against her chest and the thick inhaling in her throat and into her lungs.

Like Hannah said, it only took a few minutes to get to their destination. A tailor’s shop, it seemed.

**~ MISS TAYLOR’S ~**

**_– fashion designer –_ **

“I’ve never seen that one before.” Dani realized, looking at the front of the shop.

It was a rather small front, discreet even, but definitely new. The shop was under the balcony of the apartment above it. A big balcony, considering the space made for a couch and a coffee table on the left, as well as the small wooden table and four chairs on the right. The railing was lined by a long bush of leaves and flowers, specifically to keep a sense of privacy. These leaves and flowers fell beautifully on the shop front. The later was made of big dark green glazed bricks, with “ _Miss Taylor’s_ ” in golden letters on top. The windows were from floor to ceiling, part of which was a great bay window, with a golden “fashion designer” on it, and displaying three dressed mannequins.

One mannequin was in a black suit, the jacket of which was decorated with golden embroidered vines going up the left sleeve, another going down the right shoulder, and a last patch of embroidery going down on the left side of the chest form the neck line. The pants had a few golden vines going up the right leg and decorating the left pocket, and the small boots had golden chains tied to the front and going under in the space created by the heels.

The mannequin on the right was plus size, wearing a white high waist carrot-type pants with a clean cut, the bottom of which ended with yellow lace. In those pants was tucked a yellow blouse, cropped just above the waistline of the pants, and customed with a flowery lace starting from each side of the buttons up and decorating the chest, with a simple round collar buttoned all the way.

The third mannequin was wearing a green pencil dress and black high heels. What stood out for this one was the hat. A black floppy hat with a round top and a green silk band around the base, in which had been attached and sawed fake white orchids and their green leaves and stem, all made of fabrics, lace and pearls.

“This is…” Dani could not quite find the words. Beautiful? Creative? Gentle? Precious? Delicate? All of these words were here, but not one seemed to give it all justice.

“Here we are.” Hannah smiled, stepping towards the door and opening it for Dani to get in first. “Come on, Dear. We mustn’t keep _this_ lady waiting…” she warned playfully.

Entering the tailor’s shop was like stepping into a completely different world. Another universe made of light and quiet, of fabrics and patterns, of lace and silk of all colours. Unlike most tailor shops, made of strict and precise shelves and hangers, of specific designs and clear paths between sections, this one was welcoming the visitor into the secret world of fashion design.

On the walls were hats ready to be customized like the ones already exposed on mannequin heads, those with flowers and intricate decorations such as pearls, pins, crystals, feathers, flowers made of silk, lace or simple cloth, some of these standing up into the band, circling around the very hat, or hanging down by thin silver or golden chains.

There were sets of boxes with all types of custom decorations, embroidered patches, mostly on the theme of nature, leaves, flowers, and buttons of all shapes and colours. There were also many samples of all fabrics for everyone to touch and test out.

On busts and mannequins were unfinished projects, a vulnerable act, Dani thought, to let people see one’s art in progress, imperfect, unsure. There were busts with thin see-though lace and unfinished embroideries, or dresses still being customized with full fabric flowers.

But what Dani found the most heart-warming were the bow ties and detached collars on another side of the shop. These small pieces of fabrics were being customized as well, in such delicate embroidery and painted details, that Dani had a hard time looking away. Such a precise work coming from someone who was also capable of designing fully bloomed flowers the size of her head.

“Thought I heard some familiar heels.”

Dani turned at the sound of a new voice, a sweet gravely tone harmonized by a thick accent from the north of England. Hannah had been charmed by the sound of it and turned around to immediately embrace the woman that had come out of the back of the shop.

“I am so happy you were able to clear an hour for us today. Every day feels like a never ending marathon…”

“What you get from mixin’ fashion and canvases, Luv.” The brunette said teasingly, making Hannah giggle. “Hi there.” She nods to Dani, who was a few steps away since she had been lost in her wandering around the shop.

“Hum- hi, sorry.” Dani said, straightening her posture and coming to offer a hand to the woman. “Dani.”

The woman took her hand confidently, strongly, even, and nods a smile at Dani. “Jamie. Nice to meet ya.”

Dani found herself once again at a loss of words. She too was glad to meet this woman, Jamie, but simply could not find it in herself to say it, taken aback by Jamie’s incredibly warm and magnetic energy. Her palm certain and grounded, her eyes, just like the universe of this shop, were made of intricate colours and textures. Were they blue, or green? There was a touch of brown in them but not dominant enough. And the pattern of her irises, surrounded by a darker circle protecting the precious light in them, with waves and mountains all at once… Then Dani’s own eyes landed on the hand she was holding, and up her arm. With Jamie wearing her t-shirt with cuffed short sleeves, she could see that her right upper arm was covered in beautifully inked flower tattoos. Not coloured in, only sketched in shades of grey and black lines, with shadows and lines of light for a softened perspective, leaves and petals falling from her shoulder and down to stop on the inside of her elbow.

Raising her head back to Jamie’s, she found the woman with a knowing grin and a gentle twinkle in her eyes, telling her without speaking that she saw the curious look Dani was giving her.

“Feeling is mutual.” Dani simply said, these were being the first to have emerged from her unruly thoughts, freeing her hand from Jamie’s before hers become sweaty from the embarrassment.

The brunette sighs a chuckle, understanding a deeper level of Dani’s reaction. She turned to Hannah again, her brown curls following the movement happily. “So, Lady Busy, Owen said you could use a friend to rant to. Paperwork runnin’ you raged?”

“You have no idea…” Hannah sighed, accepting the invitation. “I have been dealing with phone calls every day since I signed with the painters. Between the translations, and the transcriptions of papers, the insurance on their art, the bookings for the planes and the artists’ hotel reservations…”

“Aren’t they supposed to figure that out themselves?” Jamie asked, fixing a few pins on a bust, readjusting the lace and checking the reference pictures for this work. “’S their own travel.”

“They wanted me to give them advice!” Hannah almost shouts, exhausted and still surprised. “I’m not a bloody tourist guide, I’m the gallerist. I already have enough on my part as it is with the handling of the merchandise… And now customs are giving me hell, for the tiniest things! Just yesterday I had to sign and post abroad paperwork over the _wrapping_ the paintings will be kept in during transport overseas. Not to mention there is going to be a stopover, so we have to be even more vigilant, and that means more paperwork…! But you’ll see, tomorrow I might send an x-ray of my kidney!”

Jamie turned to Dani with a teasing chuckle. “Ain’t she a ray of sunshine, that one.” She says about Hannah.

Dani just laughed, feeling her cheeks getting warm after the look Jamie gave her. It was not a particularly intense look. Rather casual, actually, but Jamie was made of something Dani had never seen before. An intimidating attitude laced with an elegant way of work. Maybe was it linked to her choice of clothing. Overalls embroidered with roses, sunflowers, lavender, tulips and other flowers here and there on random spots, painted with squares of landscapes or flowery sceneries down the legs or on a delimited pocket… as if Jamie was wearing her own practice, her unfinished drafts, her sudden inspirations and her flawed creations, showcasing everything that makes her the different facets of the artist that she is. This artist that makes all these masterpieces on display around the shop.

“Should we go look out the back then?” Jamie asked Hannah, though Dani was not paying attention to the conversation that led to that question.

“Oh, for sure, Love. Hum- Dani?”

“Oh, I’m- I’ll just be waiting here, I’m fine.” Dani smiled, waving away the worries in her friend’s eyes.

“Sure you won’t wanna come with?” Jamie offered. “Unless you wanna tiptoe ‘round here, have a wee talk with the mannequins?” she grins playfully.

Dani does not need to answer that one. She accepts with a nod of the head and follows Jamie’s lead with Hannah. Come to think of it, she had never been in the backstage of a tailor shop. She had had personal tailors fit her clothes and Edmund’s, but never had the chance to visit a designer’s private space. And considering what she had seen of Jamie’s art, she was more than excited to visit her world and see what was happening behind the curtains.

One thing for sure is Dani was not disappointed. Once the door was opened she truly stepped into another different world. She would dare to compare it to a God’s own studio, where were created everything that would be put down onto Earth. This studio was where Jamie created and designed everything that would next be exposed and become part of the world she made in her shop. More mannequin busts, and bottom halves, detached hands, feet and heads. Some of them naked, others only covered in a simple fabric and jabbed with needles, and some wearing finished projects, or almost finished when they had a few needles and incomplete patches of embroidery. There were also papers lying around, all covered in sketches and colourful drafts, a few numbers on the side for the measurements, dotted lines for the cuts and markers…

“So, about that floor plan of yours?” Jamie asked Hannah, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

“Here, I got it all in there.” Hannah said then, pulling out a few rolled sheets of paper from her bag and pulling the elastic to lay them down on Jamie’s table, where the tailor had made some space by pushing her things aside.

“And I thought I was a planner…” Jamie teased, seeing the 3D images of each floor of Hannah’s new gallery complex. “’That the place David showed us last week? In the wee alleyway?”

“I never say no to a miracle, Jamie, you know that.” Hannah grins, happy to have found her treasure for the exposition.

“Well damn. Looked huge in pictures, but now…” Jamie looked down to read the measures and access the space in her mind.

“Is it big enough for your part?”

“Yeah, more than.” Jamie smiled excitingly.

“Now I was thinking… in each room, we could put your main models on some kind of platform, to elevate the centrepieces, and the other girls in cases. But you need to tell me which dresses will take the most space, to be sure we can fit and furnish everything soon enough for rehearsals.”

“Right, well… The main piece for Winter is pretty classic in size. Nothing too big in the dress really. Just the show that comes with it. Autumn and Summer will need some space yeah. I’d say somethin’ like 2 steps of free space ’round them. Spring will be the biggest piece. Needs lots of space. One whole room only for that one, like we talked about?”

“’Course, top floor for Spring, and I already got in contact with the decorators. They should be available next week for a meeting with you.” Hannah informed her. “Are all of your sketches done? How many were there in total again? I forgot the count…”

“Sixteen. One unique piece for Spring. One main piece for summer, autumn and winter, and those three seasons have four complementary dresses in display cases each.”

“Right. Sixteen. So four platforms and twelve cases. Different measurements I suppose? You’ll have to share your measurements with the team so we can prepare the space.”

“Sure. I have all the Summers and Winters structures done. Some dresses I started pinnin’ and fittin’. I’ll get the rest of the measurements ready for next week, no problem.”

“You are a star, Jamie Taylor.” Hannah smiled admiratively.

“And! Actually, I got a lil surprise for ya.” Jamie grined back, opening another door that led to another part of her studio and coming back with the sound of wheels along with her. “There.” Jamie said with a groan as she pulls a mannequin into the spacious part of her studio, where the light hit the best and where one could circle around the piece to analyse it properly. “What’ ya think?”

Hannah’s first reaction was to gasp, her eyes almost popping out of her head. She then tentatively reached for the very delicate fabric, touching it to make it real to herself. “Jamie! This is beautiful!”

And it was. _God_ , was it beautiful. A thick cream-like fabric cut in long lines and minimal details to form a shoulder-to-toe winter cape covered in bright white embroidered lines of flower all over. This cape had cloud-line wool around the neck, around the wrist and circling the very end of the skirt on the ground, covering the mannequin entirely. But its large cone shape let Dani presume there was more to this piece.

“You finished one of your main piece? That is- Jamie, that is insane timing…!”

“Flatterin’. But- Here, look.” Jamie then smiled excitingly to Hannah. “Just gotta undo the front here.” She showed her so, “and move the cape to the side just on the shoulder, show the arms and the front here. Reveals the dress underneath.”

At this point Dani was just as shocked as Hannah was. The dress hidden underneath the cape was just as beautiful of a piece. A treasure to the one who wears it. The same embroidery was covering that dress, but with added dimension to it, with flowers made of layers of silk and pearls calling for more light, like dots of snowflakes falling on the scenery on display. The cut of the skirt was longer in the back and revealed the knees in the front, and showed layers of thin fabrics underneath to puff it out.

“Jamie.” Hannah called in a whisper. “Again, when you said you were ‘ _working on it_ ’, I thought you were barely done with measurements!”

“Got inspired by our lil’ conversation last time is all.” The designer brushed away, though the blush on her cheek made Dani smile. “With that layered skirt, we can put on that show we thought about. Need a higher platform for that one though.”

“Oh, you will get all the platforms you like, Luv.” Hannah promises, still in awe. “Oh this is marvellous, just perfect. The details on this fabric? Jamie, I- I cannot even find the words. Each of these flowers look so unique yet so complementary together… And this winter coat is perfectly cut! Thick and warm, but looking like a cloud with the wool… It’s perfect. Just perfect, isn’t it perfect, Dani?” she asked, though it was a rhetorical question.

“It really is.” Dani answered nonetheless. She then searched for Jamie’s eyes, which were already searching hers in surprise. “It’s so… pure. But warm, without needing any colours. It- it really is.”

“Yeah?” Jamie questioned with a flattered shyness.

The look they exchanged was made of electrifying chemistry. It was not soft, or slow, or gentle. It was violent, and explosive, in the best way it could be. This violence didn’t hurt, and this explosion didn’t burn. It was just born as instantaneously as the universe had been.

Only Hannah’s phone ringing through her purse and into their space could break this isolated tension. Dani blinked her attention away from Jamie’s and the tailor herself cleared her throat. After a few mumbled words, Hannah hung up and sighed, looking back at Jamie with a mix of frustration and exhaustion.

“Where you gotta run to now?” Jamie asked then, knowing Hannah got a call related to her work.

“Back home! Some printing and sending needs to be done and everything. is. at. home.” She punctuated in disbelieve.

“Guess you’ll have to come back for a brew sometime then?”

“I guess so too, Darling. But I’m glad at least one person in this project takes only five minutes of my time to show me more than the rest of them.” She smiled, making Jamie chuckle. “Dani? Should we drive you home too?”

“Oh, yes.” Dani snapped out of her daydreaming. “That’d be great, actually.”

“Right then.” Jamie pushes into her throat, almost uneasy. “I’ll- show you the door.”

She walked past Dani with a longing in her eyes, making Dani turn around following her staring. Hannah was behind her as they followed Jamie back to the front of the shop. The tailor opened the glass door and showed the way out with her hand, a sided grin hidden with the bow of her head. Dani smiles back and steps out, back into the chilly afternoon of New York. She turned around again to face Jamie who was hugging Hannah for a quick goodbye. They locked eyes then, the pulling still as magnetic as earlier.

“Could come back ‘round too, y’know?” Jamie said to her.

“H- What for?”

“The brew? With Hannah.”

“Right! Right, I-… I’d love to.” Dani smiled softly, nodding along.

“Right… Cool, well, I’ll-” the ringing of the shop’s phone rang. “Dammit. Guess everyone’s gonna be busy ‘round here, uh?” she turned back urgently to Hannah.

“Oh, go, Darling, we’ll catch a drive along the way down the street, don’t worry.” She smiled, waving away at her friend.

“Yeah, okay, see ya then!” Jamie waved away, catching Dani’s eyes one last time, daring a wink on her way back inside the shop.

Dani held the breath she had caught as Jamie last looked at her. That woman was quite something. A surprise on her regular path. She looked at the front of the shop again, taking in a new picture in her mind from the first time she unknowingly analysed it. The flowers falling on the dark front, decorating the outside as much as the inside of it… The golden lettering, and the large windows letting the people see Jamie’s own world… Unapologetic, creative, talented, bold, confident, skilled…

“Isn’t she someone else, this little northerner?” Hannah smiled excitingly.

“She sure is.” Dani smiled back.

.

.

In the taxi cab they caught together, and on the way to the O’Mara’s house, Hannah took the time to feed Dani’s curiosity, going into details whenever the blonde asked her to…

Before getting married and moving to New-York together, Owen and Hannah used to live in London, years ago, long before they even got together. The rent is a cost and the estate is complicated. Hannah was living in a roommate situation with five bedrooms and a shared living space. Most of the residents always moved after a few months, nothing was very consistent around here. That was until Owen came looking for a place after moving from his old shabby little town of Bly. He became, with Hannah and another one, one of the consistent resident of the house. Five months after he arrived, Jamie came in with a bag too many dreams for a tired heart.

“But she was fierce, this new little Jamie…” Hannah smiled, making Dani smile with her. “Quickly set the rules with another roommate of ours. Peter Quint. A rotten skunk who had nothing better to do than try and get on her nerves.”

“Peter Q-… I’ve heard that name, isn’t that Rebecca’s crazy ex-boyfriend?”

“Sadly.” Hannah dryly commented. “Believe me, if Jamie hadn’t been here to kick him out that night, Rebecca would have ended up with worse than a red cheek…”

Dani had hated to hear about it. Rebecca was such an elegant, beautiful, funny ray of sunshine. A gift to the world… Someone who deserved more than to be treated the way she was. Now she was happy to put a name on the person who helped her friend save herself from a relationship like this one.

“Enough of his name, now…” Hannah brushed away with a swift of her hand. “At the time Owen was working his first job as a sous-chef in a rather notorious restaurant right next to the University of the Arts, in London? That’s where she graduated to become a fashion designer. Now, this girl is a fighter. She earned her seat like no other. I had already finished my B.A in Art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art and worked in an art gallery near them. Rebecca was already on her path to become an actress, on the theatre stage here and there, in short films… Anyways, you already know all that, I’m sure we reminisce on our British roots enough for you to know it by heart.”

“You sure do!” Dani laughed. “But I love that story, though. Especially the one about you and Owen. My favourite romance of all.” She teased. “We should write that movie for the big screen.”

“I’ll leave you to it. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it more exciting that it really was. Waiting on that man to close this ocean and just join me into the unknown. But anyway… that’s how we know Jamie. Another shenanigan with a backpack and enough strength to make it happen.”

“I just never heard of her before.” Dani said. “I mean- You came to New-York years ago, with Owen following a few months later… And Rebecca after him.”

“Hmm, yes, but for Jamie it was… different. Let’s put it that way. A hard life she has lived, this one…” Hannah daydreamed looking out the window, picturing things that only she could see. “But what matters is now she’s here. She arrived a few months ago, actually, but she always needed her independence, and her own time to settle and act on things. That’s probably why you had not met her just yet.”

“Well she seems to be thriving for a newcomer.” Dani eyed at Hannah, nudging her shoulder. “Guess having a friend who knows lots of people in the world of art and fashion kind of helped? Not to mention two other friends in front of the cameras?”

“Well of course, we helped her here and there.” Hannah smiled devilishly. “But without pushing it. Just a little help. Just- wearing a few pieces to some events… My black coat, with the golden flowers? Jamie’s…”

“Oh, my God!” Dani realized as memories came back to her.

“Owen’s suit at the diner back in February? And for the photoshoot with Ryan a few weeks later?”

“You sneaky-…”

“Rebecca’s dress at the Gala too. And my jumpsuit for the opening of the Sun Gallery.”

“I didn’t even notice. I was so blind! But you guys really did that!”

“A few questions here and there.” Hannah smiled. “Where did you get that coat? Oh, that dress is beautiful! Owen, this suit, where is it from?... And there you have a line of new customers built in a matter of months. Walking wallets enamoured with quality work and discreet originality… And add on a charming face such as Jamie’s and a thick northern accent, and you got yourself a faithful clientele.”

“Damn, you guys are good…!” Dani realized. “So smooth, so humble…”

“Some of us have to be. You know many of our acquittances aren’t known for keeping a low profile…”

The car stopped at the gates of the O’Mara’s house sooner than the women thought. The time always passed so much faster when in good company. But the sight of the house was enough for Dani’s heart to hurt again. This anxious feeling, of knowing that she will step through these doors and into an atmosphere filled with sadness, silence, heaviness…

Hannah’s hand rested upon her shoulder, sensing the tension coming up. “Remember my phone is always near me. You call me anytime you need. I’ll answer.”

“I know.” Dani smiled back before stepping out of the car. She thanked the driver, and then the window rolled down for Hannah. “Hmm?”

“I just texted Owen, can you see if he’s still inside? Tell him I’m waiting just outside?”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you!”

As soon as she turned away, Dani’s face lost all composure. She breathed out the last bit of light air, the light left her eyes and the smile faded away as she went through the gates, walked to the great door and entered the home. As expected, it was quiet, but heavy and sad. Her ears felt empty, uncomfortably so. But she guessed Edmund and Owen would be somewhere in the living areas. When she found they weren’t, she tried the rooms upstairs – although it was unlikely – and ended up outside on the porch when she heard the talking.

The two men were sitting on the round chairs, having a chat around a beer. Owen turned to her with a smile, and Dani came to join them.

“Hey, you boys having a boy talk?” she teased, lending a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

“Oh, hey.” Eddie softly smiled, though his eyes were still filled with sadness. It will take a while for the light to come back…

“Hannah waiting outside?” Owen asked, getting a nod from Dani. He got up, and patted Eddie’s other shoulder. “Guess it’s time I get out of your hair then… You call me, yeah? Anytime you like, mate.”

“Thanks, Owen. Will do.” Eddie gratefully answered.

Owen then hugged Dani tightly in his arms. She leaned harder into him, resting her chin on his shoulder. Being the small friend with giant friends like Owen, Eddie or Hannah hugging her this way was one of the most comforting feelings in the world to Dani.

“Told you it’d be good.” He whispered understandingly.

“Thank you…” she meant with every bit of her soul. “No go back to your wife. And give her a massage, she’s been as stiff as ever lately.”

“I was thinking bubble bath and red wine, but I’ll add the massage to the list.” He teased, getting both Dani and Eddie to chuckle lightly with him. “Right, you two take care.”

And he was gone faster than he arrived, knowing Hannah was waiting for him to finally get back to their nest. This left Dani and Eddie alone on the porch. Dani took a few seconds before coming to sit down where Owen was. It was a complete shift in ambiance, from Hannah’s company to Eddie’s. Not that it was his fault.

“So, Hannah took you on a marathon around the city?”

“God, you have no idea…” she sighed. “Think my calf muscles are gonna be hard as rock tomorrow…” she shared, which made him chuckle lightly. He handed her his beer and Dani didn’t hesitate to take a sip. “What about you, with Owen? Was it nice?”

“It was, yeah.” He admitted, getting Dani to hand him his beer back. “I didn’t feel like hanging out at first. Felt too tired for it, you know? Like- drained… But five minutes in and it’s like all that tiredness became a weight that could be lifted off my shoulder. I mean, it was still around me, but it wasn’t as heavy as usual, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that.” She smiled, encouragingly and proudly for me.

“We talked quite a bit. About me… my dad… and his mom.” He bowed his head, playing with the swirling of the beer in the green glass of the bottle, distracting his eyes by observing the liquid dancing inside. “It helped a little, to hear from his own grief. Sometimes it feels like so much, I feel like it’s never gonna go away. Like- not even a little. He didn’t lie to me, though. Didn’t sell me hopes of everything just puffing out of existence one day. But he made it easier to envision… Grieving doesn’t really stop.” He said, quoting Owen, “but it becomes easier to live with as you go through it. It’s always sad but- it becomes less present. Other things will fill that space. Other things that make me happier than grief can make me sad. Much like his life with Hannah slowly came back to take more place than the pain of losing his mother.

Edmund loses himself in thoughts, remembering the words Owen used to explain it all to him…

.

_“See, from my point of you I picture it that way in my head.” He explained. “This pain I feel for my mother stays anchored with the moment of her death, in that moment she passed away, just stuck in time with her. That pain doesn’t move, because it’s linked to that moment in time, and my mom, well, she stopped moving on that line of time in that moment... But my carrier, and my love life, and my personal life as me, Owen, everything that’s alive, that evolves, it does move… It’s not meant to stop with my mother. I move with those things. And the more I continue to move, the more I continue to build and walk forward, the less intense this sadness becomes. Because it stays anchored somewhere in time behind me, when I’m able to move further away and forward. I guess that’s how I picture ‘moving on’, you see.”_

_“But I can’t move on, right now, Owen, I just- can’t even think of that.” Eddie said with teary eyes._

_“I get that. Believe me, right now, and I remember being there too, you can’t move. I know you can’t. Because it would be like moving away from your father, who’s stuck in time now. And your dad can’t move along with you anymore, can’t move forward along with you… and that feels wrong, to not have him with you that way.” He understood and Eddie nods silently. “And I get that, mate. I remember. I still feel that way sometimes too. And you’re not ready to let go of him that way, that’s totally normal. I remember feeling so guilty when I thought about wanting to start moving on.” Owen shared with a sigh. “God, let me tell you, that first time I did something that felt like a step forward? like- a step away from where my mom was…? God, I felt so guilty. Made me mad and sad all over again. Like I was abandoning her… But that feeling of guilt, it’ll become more manageable, when you accept what it involves, and you understand that you are not doing anything wrong and know that you can and should have the right to move on… Doesn’t mean you disrespect his memory. Doesn’t mean you forget him. It means you continue to walk along that path that is yours, just like you should, because that’s what everyone does. He did so, when his own father died, and he wouldn’t expect any less of his son for living his life. But I wouldn’t blame you or stop you from feeling like it’s wrong right now for you.”_

_Eddie looked up at Owen, his tears falling freely down his cheeks. Owen had always been such a good heart to be around. One of the rare man that Eddie ever trusted fully. “Thanks, mate.” He smiled at him._

_“Anytime, you know it.” Owen answered with a smile too, cheering his beer with Eddie’s._

.

“Happy things will take more place until the grief and the pain become part of my life without being in the forefront of it.” Edmund said to Dani, looking at her with a tight smile, one made of pain that he accepted to feel. “That’s all part of moving on, right?”

Dani’s own eyes were starting to tingle again, her nose too. “This British moustache really has a way with words, uh?” she sniffs away.

Eddie laughs along with her, drying his own tears too. “Yeah, he sure does. Charismatic, really. But you know… that got me thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“About what your mother said. About taking my dad’s seat at the company?” he reminds her, and he sees Dani’s attention shifting from wonder to worry for him. “I know I don’t feel like I’m ready for it now. If it were to happen next week, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But your mom said it’d be a slow process, right? That she’ll ease me into it. And she told me more about it this afternoon, while you were gone, actually. She said the official taking of his seat wouldn’t happen before next month. She marked the day, actually, next month. 25th of July.”

“The company’s anniversary gala.” Dani calculated.

“She wants to make it symbolic.” Eddie said. “Wants to put respect on my dad’s name, and it will give her enough time to put me in his shoes. And I think that’s quite noble of her, really.”

“Old witches can care about some people sometimes.” Dani smiles teasingly.

“I guess you’re right, yeah.” He chuckles lightly. “But, truly, I’m- I think I’m good with it. I actually was sort of always meant to take my dad’s place. Just wasn’t planning on taking it so soon… We all know that. Guess if I remember that he also would want that for me, it will become easier.”

“You know he’d be extremely proud of you.” Dani nods. “He is. And he will be. Always, that’s for sure.”

“Thanks… You know, no pressure, but having you with me also makes it easier to feel all of this.”

“Is that your way of asking me to be by your side for that Gala?” she teased, and he laughed again, so she pushed him, this silly boy full of emotions. “Of course I’ll be here, you goof…! Always will be, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know.” He smiled.

Dani looked back at him and realized it was the first time Eddie had stepped out of the house. The first time he went outside to feel the fresh air on his face. She did not bring it up. She knew Edmund was also aware of it, considering how he leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling of the wind and the sunlight on his skin.

Later that night, after a rather peaceful diner with Karen and Judy, Dani found herself reminiscing about her conversation with Eddie on the porch. The gala was always an important event, and even at the diner table their mothers talked about the importance of this particular day this year considering it was going to be the day Eddie takes his father’s seat. She thought of it, looked into her closet as she went to change in her pyjamas, and thought some more. She would need a new dress for sure. There was no way her mother would let her put on a dress she’d already worn. And then another thought. A surprising and new thought crossed her mind and circled around here, stubborn and playful. She smiled at the idea and went to bed knowing what she would do first thing in the morning.

.

.

When the clock hit 9am the next day, after a good shower and a rich breakfast, she reached for her phone, searched on the internet for the information and got the phone number she was looking for, rang it and waited.

_“Miss Taylor’s design and custom tailor shop, how may I help ya?”_

Simply hearing her voice was enough to make Dani smile. “Hi, this is Dani? Hannah’s friend, we met yesterday?”

_“Dani?”_ this question was such a tease, Dani had to stop herself from laughing. _“Didn’t expect ya ringing me this early. How did you get my number?”_

“It’s- actually the shop’s number.” She answered, hearing the awkward ‘right’ on the other side of the phone. “Got it from this funny person called Google.”

_“A’right, got it. Teachable moment for me and my lack of game in the a.m.”_ Jamie admitted her defeat with a laugh. _“So, what can I do you for, Miss Dani?”_

“I’m actually calling you to know if you happened to be extra busy with the fashion show? Or if you could welcome a new single project, for me? I-… I’ve got a pretty important event next month, on the 25th, and I’m looking for a dress.”

_“I see, well, first I’m flattered you thought of callin’ me for that.” She smiled genuinely. “And you can just come by the shop one of these days, see for yourself, no problem. Look around for a piece ya like? Unless ya got one in mind from yesterday? I’ll hum… I’ll fit it for ya if ya need, of course.”_ She adds, and Dani could hear she was trying to be as professional as she could, even with her.

“I- I was actually thinking about a new piece?” Dani tells her. “Like- I did look around, and I saw some things I like, from one dress to the other… I love your work, and I’d love to wear something of yours. But it’s a very important event for me and my family… So, I would need a unique piece.”

_“So we dealin’ with a VIP here, uh?”_ Jamie teased once again. _“Didn’t know who I was speakin’ to, clearly. My apologies, Miss Dani.”_

This comment had Dani question something a bit too narcissistic for her to actually ask the question, but… Jamie had no idea who she was at all. Even though she had had her face on billboards, and buses around the city. Jamie didn’t recognize her, or knew her. She was a complete stranger to her.

“I guess I’m more discreet than others.” She just said. “Not that fancy all the time apparently.”

_“Well, how about that? Today I’m gonna be super busy, and tomorrow… Here, hang on a sec’.”_ she asked her. Dani could hear the shuffling and mumbling as she waits. _“Okay, yeah, that’s what I thought. Hum- Right, so we should start with full-body measurements, of course.”_ She said, still reading into something on the other side of the line. _“Could use a good two hours, give us time to talk about that important event of yours? So two hours, that’s gonna be either Thursday 10 to 12 in the mornin’, Friday from 4 to 6pm… not Saturday, that’s Miss Shepard’s fittin’… uh, yeah, next Monday, whenever ya want in the day. Or if you can’t with either of those, I’m free again on Wednesday in the a.m.”_

“Uh, wait, now I gotta check too.” Dani said, pulling the phone away from her face and looking in her agenda. “Can’t do Thursday… What did you say about Friday again? Sorry.”

_“S’okay.”_ Jamie smiled, _“Friday’s 4 to 6, afternoon.”_

She read into the agenda, calculated the time she’d need to get from the studio to Jamie’s area. “Okay, I can make that happen, yeah. Yeah, that’s be great, actually. Good with you?”

_“Perfect with me, Miss Dani.”_

“Clayton.” She chuckles.

_“Hmm?”_

“Danielle Clayton. But- I prefer Dani.”

_“Right, Miss Dani Clayton.”_ Jamie said again, longing into the name, but without recognizing that name from anywhere. _“You’re in my book, Friday 4 to 6pm then.”_

“Great, and you’re in my agenda, Miss Jamie-… Hum. Wait.” She stopped, realizing, which made Jamie chuckle when she understood. “Is that your- hold on, are you for real? Jamie Taylor. The Tailor. _Taylor_? Miss Taylor of the Tailor shop?”

_“My friends tell me I’m funny sometimes.”_ Jamie told her, laughing.

“Really? That explains why you’re friends with Owen… Oh my God, wait, things make so much more sense now!” she laughs.

_“Now, don’t hurt my feelings yet, Miss Dani.”_

Dani couldn’t help but laugh with her. It was warm and fuzzy, this feeling when she was talking with Jamie. They were like to strangers who knew each other, or wanted to burn the unknown field that kept them apart to get familiar and closer sooner.

_“I better get goin’. Some batty ol’ witch’s waiting for her mad hatter to measure the circumference of her enormous skull.”_

“Right, of course! And- sorry for keeping you. I know you’re super busy, with you collection for the show, and regular work... I didn’t mean to keep you from that.”

_“Don’t worry, you’re not bad company.”_ Jamie reassured warmly. _“I’ll see ya on Friday then?”_

“You will, yeah. 4pm.”

_“Right, then. See ya ‘round then, Dani.”_

“Yeah, see you, Jamie.”

Neither of them hung up for a long set of three seconds, longing into the comfort of their interaction, of the desire to keep it on. Eventually one of them did, or maybe they did it at the same time, Dani couldn’t pin it down. But she still remained still, standing there with Jamie’s name on her phone.

That shift in the balance of her world made Dani feel dizzy, feeling it as Jamie came in out of nowhere to settle the weight of her existence on this thin porcelain that was her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Feelings? Dani's got many, what about you lol. Theories? Let me know :)


	3. Resistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dani's appointment with Jamie.  
> Touches and feels.  
> Memories and experiences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo, as you can see I didn't update last week heheee, being kept busy with assignments ISN'T fun! What's up fellow University students? Hanging in there?
> 
> Please, let me know what you thought about this chapter in the comments if you feel like it! I'd love to read it.

Dani opened her eyes, fluttering them as she adapts to the lights. Her back was cold and stiff against the surface she was leaning back. She felt the tightness around her cheek first, and in her mouth then… A piece of tissue tied behind her head to keep her quiet, digging the corners of her lips. Her hands were behind her back and there was no way she could move them as they too were tied with something, this time something cold and clicking, metallic. A chain, probably the same that was linked to one of her ankles.

The basement was dirty, old, and cold, with only a few dusty lights enlightening the place and the smell of mould on the humid walls. But she was not alone in there. Beside her should now feel the presence of Rebecca, who started opening her eyes and becoming aware of their surroundings. Soon enough they looked into each other’s eyes and understood the situation. They moved quickly, getting closer the best they could by dragging their tied bodies towards one another. They checked on each other, both of them nodding as they silently asked for confirmation that they were alright, a reassured sigh escaping them both a tender look in their eyes. Then Rebecca turned her head so Dani could face the knot that kept the tissue in her mouth tied around her head. Dani used her teeth the best she could to free her. It took a few bites and pulls but soon enough Rebecca was free from it, sighing a relieved groan, working the muscles of her jaw before freeing Dani from her own tissue the same way.

“Fuck…!” Dani groaned, working her jaw in circles like Rebecca did. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Not with your hands tied you won’t.” Rebecca sighs, letting her head fall back to rest against the wall. “Where the hell are we…?” she looked around, trying to get some clue. “His house’s got no basement, and no way he could bring us to his mom’s…”

“I don’t know… You remember how we got here?”

“Not willingly, that’s for sure. I just remember us at the party, and then in the car to leave… Did we even start the car?”

“I can’t remember the minute after we sat in it…” Dani groaned, her brows furrowed as her frustration grew. She was angry at herself more than ever. “I promised I’d take care of you…” she murmured, bowing her head. “I promised he’d never get to you ever again… I-”

“Come on, not now…” Rebecca tenderly begged of her. “This isn’t on you. None of it. You’re in the same situation as I am, you-… you never did anything to harm me. That, I know.”

“Never would.” Dani said to re-affirm it, feeling guilt over their past fall-out, the things that almost had her lose her best friend over some stupid boy.

“I know. So now you get your shit together and we work on getting the hell of here, yeah?” Rebecca nodded, motivating her friend. She forces on her restrains. “We’ll cry in each other’s arms when he get them back… Dammit, what is that? Tape?”

“Chains, I think… Fuck, I can’t even-” Dani’s stomach growls loudly, the sound invading the whole room. And then silence, followed by Rebecca’s struggling expression as she tries so hard not to laugh.

“Oh- my god…!” Rebecca chuckled low, struggling to contain herself and looking down.

“I’m so-“ Dani’s words were once again cut off by her stomach rumbling, to which Rebecca puffed her hidden chuckle out. “I- Dammit!” Dani shouted with an amused annoyance, sending Rebecca into a freeing laughter.

The rest of the filming crew began laughing along with the two actresses. The man holding the mic above them put the stick away _“holy shit, Dani, that was so loud!”_ , laughing with his friend by the camera framing Dani’s face. “ _Cut!_ ” was shouted from the back and the lights of the set turned on, enlightening the basement. A couple of assistants came in the view with water bottles for the actresses still laughing on the ground.

Dani had been lucky when she was picked for this show four years ago, and moments like these were all the more proving her point. While a lot of crews would get annoyed with actors breaking scenes, this one was more than happy to share a good laugh together. Sure, the one breaking the scene always felt guilty for doing so, either by missing a line or stumbling on furniture or laughing at something… but ultimately when the balance between professional and fun was on the edge of perfection, breaking a scene with laughter brought more happiness and lightness on the set. They would get the perfect shot, just not this one.

“Alright, let’s give it five minutes, guys! Five minutes!” The director said with a self-evading laugh. “See if the ogre can be satiated before we all get munched on.” The rest of the crew chuckled once again at the tease.

“Thankfully this time we got her restrained!” another cameraman shouted, sending everyone into laughter.

“I’m so sorry, Henry!” Dani said again, getting her hands freed from the fake restrains by an assistance just like Rebecca was. “Thanks.”

“All good, Dani, so long as you don’t faint on my set.” Henry smiled as he began to walk towards the door. “I’ll check backstage, see if we have more of these energy bars for you.”

“I did eat!” She said then to her co-star next to her. “I swear, I did… Just- loud digestion.”

“Alright, stop explaining your intestine’s journey, please, because I ate too and I’d like to keep it all in.” Rebecca laughed at her, getting her makeup fixed.

“Why is it always the most serious scenes?” Dani asked. “First when we found the body I literally almost fell in that hole. Then the truck scene, my God… and it’s always the ones that aren’t even funny!”

“I don’t know but you make it an art form. Never change, Clayton…”

Dani had met Rebecca the day of their chemistry read for the show. Becca being the main face of the show and first to be picked for the first main role, every other main relationship had to be based on her chemistry with the other actors. With Dani, it clicked like a light switch the second their eyes met. Bright smiles, warm welcome, and an immediate desire to get along. The next day, Dani got the confirmation that Rebecca wanted her as her best-friend on the show, and the rest was history.

A history full of nights spent learning about each other, sharing secrets, slowly beginning to trust one another. The hardest talks were the one that forged their friendship the most, especially the talk about Rebecca’s abusive ex-boyfriend and, eventually, Dani’s coming out to her by choice. The friendship they slowly built in real life helped the building of the friendship on the show as characters. And this chemistry became the heart of the show, the most important relationship to develop and to be careful with in terms of story-telling, especially since the show’s first season became an almost immediate success, number one of their network, and promised to at least 2 renewals. This show was not Dani’s first big role. She had had two support roles on the big screen and half a season on another previous show as a love interest. But this show here was the one she cherished the most.

Now here was Dani, four years later, sitting on the dirty concrete floor of a fake cave built on their set, having a laugh with a couple of friends about her grumpy stomach while filming the second half of their third season. Waiting for a few more minutes to pass, the two actresses kept on making small talk between them now that all crew members and assistants were far enough away.

“Dammit,” Rebecca said under her breath as she opens the WhatsApp conversation of their friend’s group. “Did you see Hannah’s latest text this morning?” she asks high-pitched, looking at Dani quickly before looking back down at her screen. “With the new script coming in I didn’t even have time to look at my phone…”

“Yeah, she wants to know who wants to bring what for tomorrow.” Dani tells her with a regular voice, not the hard and lower one she used for her character.

“Ah, okay, what are you bringing?” Rebecca asked her, but Dani only laughed to her face. “What! Just need some inspiration, help a girl out here, Dani! You didn’t even answer.”

“I saw Owen in the trailer park this morning.” Dani chuckled. “Eddie and I are bringing the quiche. Well I mean- _Eddie_ cooks it and _we_ bring it together.”

“Of course you are.” She chuckled. “I swear, the lot of ya…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Wave your flags, Babes. Wave your flags.” She grinned, typing a text into the conversation. “A _quiche_ …” she said again, chuckling under her breath.

“It’s not- okay, maybe it is a little bit.”

“It’s the gayest thing a man could cook.”

“It’s his mother’s recipe.” Dani defended, though she was smiling at the tease.

“Yes it is, and didn’t he improve it _and_ found a way to make a vegan option just to please me just two weeks after he met me?”

“I mean, he’s a very caring person… And his spice game is rather impressive, yes.” Dani agreed.

“And I won’t complain about it.” She smiled. “Here, I’ll bring the wine. I still have two Marbuzet at home. Both from 2016.”

“My God, Owen is going to kiss your feet.”

“He better, that case cost me an arm!” Rebecca laughed. “And by the way, talking about fancy wine, how are things going for that reception of yours next month?”

“Ugh, my mother has lost all interest in any other topic…” Dani sighed, letting her head fall against the wall behind them. “I mean, I know it’s like- a _huge_ deal considering- you know… Eddie’s new position at the siege and all that… And I’m 100% with him, and so with her, but it’s just so time-consuming! Whenever we sit at the table, I know what the conversation will be about. Plus she keeps asking me about the dress I’ll be wearing even though I keep telling her I’m literally meeting the woman today to work on it. And _of course_ she wants to have a say on the design, it’s- a whole mess.” She sighed again, waving it all away.

“Can’t you just time-jump three weeks ahead and come back to give her all the answers your future _You_ has?” Rebecca asked with one of her beautiful teasing grin.

“No jokes, I almost sent her a text that sounded a bit like that yesterday…”

“But then remembered she gave birth to you and can take your life back whenever she wants to, so you erased that text to send ‘ _keeping you updated asap mum xoxo_ ’ instead?”

“I mean, yeah, kinda.” Dani admitted, making Rebecca laugh. “And you know what? It kind of kills the mood, considering that _for once_ , I’m pretty interested in working on a dress! You know I tend to just go in, ask for something, get a draft, send it to mom for approval, and then just wear the final piece.” She explained as a to-do list. “But that one just- I don’t know… It’s different? Symbolically I mean.

“Yeah, and a big deal emotionally.” Rebecca agreed, nodding empathetically. “With Eddie’s role in all that, the implication of the event… No wonder you want to feel a little invested for how you’ll be portraying yourself. You always show up for Eddie, all in, 100%.”

“I just immediately felt the need to pour in some personal interest, you know.” Dani continued, wanting to develop on what Rebecca just pointed at. “That’s why I pretty much refused any of my mom’s friends for a dress. It wasn’t a personal choice, and I wanted that for myself this time. And to be honest, even just the shop itself! I mean, there’s something about it that makes you want to get involved and inspired…! Even if you don’t know anything about fashion, like me.” She laughed along with Rebecca.

“Yeah, the lil northerner’s got a different vibe than those old pompous dudes you mom is used to, uh?” Rebecca grinned then, completely understanding Dani’s point of view. “A colourful mess, that one.”

“Yeah, like there is character in the place! The shop feels like a person of its own, kinda?” Dani explained with passion. “You see that this is _Jamie’s_ shop, and you can’t put someone else in charge, another designer like those other ones that all look the same with their shiny dark wooden floors and their perfectly arranged suits, and their clear surfaces and their minimalist space… She made it her own completely and unapologetically, and whoever walks in just gets _absorbed_ in her world. Same as when you enter Hannah’s galleries, right? Like it’s completely _Hannah_ , and you see it.”

“Oh yeah, I remember feeling that way when I was living with Jamie back in London?” Rebecca smiled adoringly, the nostalgia playing with the lights in her eyes. “Her room was a mess. Like- truly, just a colourful warzone… so rich in emotions and creativity! Sweat and blood, that one… But even with the mess, it wasn’t overwhelming. It was inviting. You just wanted to get lost in it, and look for details or little treasures hidden under the mass of clothes and textures and patterns… You wanna touch everything like a little child, feel the fabrics, listen to the jewels, it’s ridiculous!”

“Oh god, I felt that…!” Dani remembered then, embarrassingly. “I just wanted to play with every little decoration on the hats and just pat every piece of fabric, I felt so dumb afterward, like what the hell…!”

“But that’s the best feeling, though, right? See I remember, when I was spent from a hard day and I wanted to rant about it, or felt a bit down because of whatever reason, I’d just knock on Jamie’s door and let myself feel absorbed into another dimension. It felt that way because everything came from her craft entirely.” Rebecca told her excitingly, passionately. “She’d let me stay there watching her draw, and sew, stitch, embroider, decorate and patch things up together, or take something basic and transform it into something completely different and so _her_ … Just seeing Jamie turn simple fabrics into textured masterpieces that you can touch and feel and hear, it really helped me.” Rebecca confessed with a soft smile. “Help me believe that I could do anything with the minimum I had at my disposal at the time. No agent, no fancy material for tapes, no connexions in the business. It was just me and my ability to portray emotions that sometimes I had never even felt... Like you and Owen do in your own unique and sensitive way. Just like it was just Jamie and her ability to create multi-dimensional attires out of flat fabrics. And Hannah reading into paint and pottery and marble statues…”

Dani nodded and smiled as she listened to the passionate explanation of her friend. Rebecca had always had this talent of giving everything a beautiful meaning. It helped a lot, especially when life felt dull and like nothing made much sense, like now with everything happening in her family.

“In the end that’s what artists do, right?” Rebecca said, always smiling. “We take our thoughts and our emotions, everything we are inside, everything we’ve been that made us who we are, everything we imagine within us… we take bits of them and we materialize it into pieces of art in the real world in the here and now. We offer a piece of human experience explained artistically for the rest of world to see, and to take in, to understand however they want to their own capacity.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty right.” Dani agreed softly, looking into Rebecca’s joyful eyes and seeing more than the successful actress inside of them. She could see the woman, the artist, all in its purest origin. “I guess that’s what we do when we get down to it. The root of it. It reminds me of that interview we did, back in Vancouver, for the promo of Season 1? That question about why we became actors…”

“We’re just experiencers experiencing other people’s experiences.” Rebecca remembered thoughtfully, quoting Dani.

“We’re just experiencers,” Dani said again, pretty happy with the way she worded her thoughts, “and we make it our job to share the many ways life can be experienced in a given moment.”

“That was a really good answer.” Rebecca admitted with a cheeky nod, making Dani chuckle. “You stole the whole show with that one.”

“What can I say, sometimes I’m a poet like that…!” Dani said, flipping her hair.

“Right…” She scoffed at Dani. “Says the one who couldn’t spell her own name at a damn Starbucks.”

“Okay, alright, we get it, I get a little flustered when I see a brunette in a leather jacket…” she pretended to be annoyed at Rebecca. “Sorry, I’m only human! Pretty girl asking for my name like that?”

“That’s her job, Dani!” Rebecca reminded her. “She gets paid for it.”

“The accent threw me off…?” Dani argued the best she could.

“Not so different from mine.”

“She called me Babes! You know I can’t handle pet names, I turn into a puddle of cotton candy.”

Rebecca joined Dani in her laughter and teased her ribs just to annoy her, all in great sympathy. It had become Rebecca’s mission to make sure Dani could feel 100% comfortable about her attraction for women around her, no taboos allowed, all jokes welcomed, and lots of teasing especially.

“Ah, wait, what’s this again…” Dani questioned, feeling like this new message on her phone popped up to kill the mood. “If it’s the Prod, I swear I’ll- oh. Oh.” She said again.

“Another one and I’ll call you Santa.” Rebecca grinned, then nodding at her phone, “What’s this then?”

“Just- a Jamie-looking account asking for a follow on my private Insta?” Dani said in a confused matter-of-fact tone, her brows furrowed as she tapped here and there to get to the profile and verify. She turns her phone for Rebecca to assess the situation.

“Oh, yeah, that’s her private.” Rebecca confirmed. “She probably found you through us lot.”

Dani didn’t need much more to appease her worries and simply accepted the demand to follow, sending her own for Jamie to reciprocate. A few seconds later, she was granted access to Jamie’s private account. With a natural curiosity that she knew Jamie had also had, she went to scroll through her posts.

Main themes where plants, tattoos and fabrics. Very aesthetically pleasing in terms of colour harmony. The colour themes were separated by banners of three posts in B&W, the only posts displaying Jamie herself. These were very dreamy, airy, floaty, and had a professional photoshoot quality to them. This style of photography made Dani smile because she knew who took these : Hannah. The woman had the eye of a thousand visual artists combined and always took pictures that displayed a deep feeling of contemplation, of dream state. A perfect example was the one of Jamie laying back against a balcony railing, head tilted back, her curls rebelliously texturized and her eyes closed peacefully, a cigarette lit between her lips loosely and the column of her throat deliciously displayed in the continuity of her thin oversized shirt. The axis of this picture was the vertical line of the cigarette’s smoke.

“Remember what you said about brunettes with British accents and leather jacket attitude?” Rebecca asked low with a teasing grin on her face.

Dani turned to her immediately, the post minimizing back with the others. “I- what?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…”

“I didn’t even _say_ anything!” Dani argued, speechless.

“Don’t need to when you’re basically zooming in on a woman’s side profile like that.” Rebecca chuckled, making Dani desperate for a cure against blushing. “Now that makes me really want to come with you this afternoon. Hate to miss it.”

“Glad you’re missing it.” Dani talked back, pushing Rebecca’s shoulder. “And it’s a professional appointment, not a picnic in the park.” She reminded her, trying to remind herself as well.

“A shame, really, because Jamie loves picnic.” Rebecca teased once again.

Dani just gave up and laughed it off with her friend, though the idea of sharing a fruit salad with the brunette in a park on a sunny day settled in her mind long enough for her to struggle pushing it away. Thankfully, a minute later came the crewmates and it allowed Dani to let her thoughts drift back in order to get back into character, the bonus being Rebecca doing the same instead of getting all up in her weak spot for British brunettes.

.

.

Late afternoons became warmer by the day, announcing the end of winter for a delightful spring to come. Dani loved this period in particular for the symbolic hope of renewal on its way after a cold and dark period. She thought about it on her way to the tailor shop, watching the warmer tones of the sky that would have usually faded to a cold darkness a few weeks prior. Now, the air on her cheek didn’t freeze her skin as much, and her gloves had been put back in her closet.

She announced her entry when she pushed the door of the shop and the chiming of the bells tuned melodically through the great room. She sighed as she began settling in the comfort of the much warmer atmosphere of the shop. Soon enough her eyes met those of Jamie, standing by a client she was advising. Both smiled right after a short second of contemplation.

“Hey!” Dani breathed out, recovering from her rapid walk, her nose still a bit red.

“Hey yaself.” Jamie grinned casually, turning back to her client. “Here, I think that should do it, yeah? What do ya think?” she asked her, showing the results in the mirror of the hat she was meant to design for the older woman. “Just gotta move that bit on the side to let the front breathe and not weigh on ya face. We can add extra fabrics and puff the silk out that way, make it rounder, more textured?” she explained, moving the fabrics around the area of the hat she was working on to try and show what it could look like. “The hat’s pretty thick and solid, so either you go for a discreet look or you go all in.”

“Oh, I’m not one for shying away, Dear.” The older client said, chuckling in her chest. “All in it is!”

“Right,” Jamie smiled, amused by the lady’s character. “So that’s what I’ll be doin’ then. Bolder, more brut fabric, make that flower larger, give it some texture, maybe pearls and beads to catch the light.”

“It’ll look fabulous, Dear.” The client said, turning to go to her purse that she had let on a chair. “I swear, I’ve been seeing your signature on almost every friend in the circle, I was beginning to feel left out. But this? Oh, this will be the main piece for the gala, yes… Oh, Danielle?!”

Dani recognized the woman immediately, her shoulders tensing due to Jamie’s presence in the room. A silly thought, considering it was Jamie’s space. “Miss Harrison?!” she faked her surprise.

“What a surprising encounter! I barely ever see you outside your mother’s perimeter.” The lady chuckled.

“Y’know each other, uh?” Jamie grinned as she goes in her closet to get the client’s coat and scarf. “Small world we live in.”

“Oh, I’ve known Danielle’s family for the longest time.” Miss Harrison smiled back at Jamie. “Her mother, Karen, has been a client of mine ever since she moved to New-York. I make her perfumes, she finds me a mansion, and the rest is history, as they say.”

“Business, am I right?” Jamie nods, feeling a bit out of her own world. “Here lemme help ya.” She offered the coat.

“You charming gentlewoman…” the lady complimented, letting herself be dressed by Jamie. “Oh, Danielle, are you here to get a dress for the anniversary next month?” she suddenly thought of, looking back at the blonde.

“I am, yes.” Dani smiled. “I met Jamie through Hannah a few days ago.”

“How funny is it? Hannah is actually the one who recommended Jamie to me!” Miss Harrison smiled back. “The instant I laid my eye on that beautiful white coat of hers I just couldn’t help but ask.”

Dani looked at Jamie with a sudden image flashing in the forefront of her mind. Hannah had a long white coat decorated with embroidered cherry blossoms on the bottom and on the wrists. A beautiful piece of clothing with a very pure cut, very proper. “Oh, waw, that was you?!”

Jamie just smiled, bowing her head to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks as she keeps on getting compliments after compliments from the two women.

“And she also made Maddi’s cocktail dress.” Miss Harrison added then. “Remember the green one she wore at the Mayor’s dinner a few months back?”

“Oh, that one was beautiful, yes!” Dani remembered. “With the lace at the bottom and the shoulders pads, yeah?”

“Exactly that one. Little Maddi made so many heads turn that night in this dress. Way to come back in the game!”

“Well now, look at me with my big head…” Jamie chuckled, trying to brush it off. “Can’t even put on a hat anymore!” She said, purposely choosing a hat that was too small for her head and showing it wasn’t a fit.

Dani and Miss Harrison both laughed at Jamie’s entertaining awkwardness. Quickly the older woman held Jamie’s forearm, squeezing lightly. “Oh, Dear, you truly are a breath of fresh air in this city.” She looked at her watch after a mumbled ‘ _thanks_ ’ from the tailor, exclaiming in surprise. “Oh, but look at me, taking up all of your time when I have another appointment to go to!”

“No worries. You’re good company, Ma’am.” Jamie just nodded with another smile.

“Well, aren’t you charming…! Oh, Dani, while you’re here, can I ask you a favour? For Judy.”

“Oh, sure, please do tell!” Dani agreed vividly as the woman collected the rest of her belongings that Jamie handed her.

“Will you please tell her that my friend Tony found an _exquisite_ pair of Vittorio Veneto for Edmund.” Miss Harrison said with a delighted, almost gourmet-like, melodic voice. “ _Exquisite,_ Darling. Oh, Edmund will simply love them… I cannot wait to see your young man in these! Sometimes it really is the pair of shoes that just makes the whole suit spark in fashion for men.” She said looking back at the tailor herself.

“Her man, uh?” Jamie grinned back teasingly at Dani, but with a surprise in her eye that made Dani uncomfortable.

“He’s not- well Eddie is my-”

“Her husband at heart…!” Miss Harrison smiled at the romantic thought.

“Boyfriend,” Dani finally said but without losing that smile plastered onto her face. “Eddie is my- boyfriend…” she finished, looking down when Jamie nodded with a flat smile.

“Ah, well, kids these days… I married my husband just a month after he began courting me, you know?” Miss Harrison took as an example. “It didn’t take long for us to know what we wanted. Simpler times.”

“Was another time, like ya said.” Jamie tried to deflect, seeing as Dani didn’t seem to want to keep on digging into that subject. “Different customs. And morals.”

“Sure was, Dear. Well, I should leave before my other appointment turns jealous of you.” She smiled at Jamie. “Would have all the reasons to, though…!”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Just come back next week, same time? We’ll see if the new design fits ya.”

“Of course, Dear. Danielle?” Miss Harrison called, approaching the door and therefore Dani, squeezing her arm sympathetically. “Oh, you stay strong for them all, alright? Aww, such a sweet girl… We’re all very proud of you.” She kisses the back of her hand and taps it gently, offering a compassionate smile that Dani craved for these days.

“Thank you, Miss Harrison.” she smiles back tenderly.

Jamie, although curious of Miss Harrison’s words to Dani, opened the rather heavy door of the shop and led the woman into her exit, saying goodbye with a charming smile that made her client blush even years in a marriage with her man. Jamie came back in and went to pick up the scattered sheets of paper on the table, on which she had sketched different hat designs and decorations during the appointment with Miss Harrison, putting it all in a folder with her name on it.

“Well then, Miss Clayton?” she asked to break the short silence. “Should we get to work?”

“Oh- of course, yes. Sorry.”

“No need for that.” Jamie smiled. “The elder clientele’s just a bit more chatty than others.”

“Yeah, that too… I, uh… Yeah. Miss Harrison surely is talkative…”

“Hey, ya don’t need to explain anything. I’m a tailor, I’m basically a well full of gossips and stories. I could tell you some of the scandalous things about your cousins if they ever came to me.”

“Right…” Dani whispered with a giggle, finally.

Jamie lazily offered Dani to get near the table, where she apparently seemed to have talks around with her clients. Dani nodded a thank you and came closer, looking as Jamie was confidently walking around her shop to tidy things here and there to clean that table from any traces of her previous consultation with Miss Harrison.

“So, tell me, Miss Clayton-”

“Dani.” The blonde smiled at the tease.

“Right, Dani…” she smiled back at her, going to her desk to pick a new folder, a pink one, and coming back to the table with it. “Tell me, d’ya know what you’re looking for?”

“Hum… What-”

“For ya dress.” Jamie grinned then, grabbing a pen that was lying there. “D’ya have a couple of ideas?”

“Right, hum- well… It’s for a reception. Anniversary, actually, of my mother’s company.” Dani explained.

“Important event then.” Jamie nodded, scribbling a couple of words down on a sheet of paper. “D’ya know the colour theme by any chance?”

“Oh, my mother always went white and gold for that occasion. And this year too.”

“’Kay, so no yellow or dominant white, unless ya wanna blend in with the décor…” she teased gently, making Dani sigh a chuckle. “So, gold and white…” she thought to herself out loud, scribbling patterns of flowers on the side of the page as she thinks, making Dani smile fondly. “I’m thinking either blue, any shade of blue matches beautifully with gold… Or we can go for a pink, like a light clean, pale pink.”

“Oh, pink is my favourite colour, actually!” Dani said excitingly with a childlike smile that she found almost embarrassing to show. “I know it’s kind of cliché, for a girl to love pink, but…-”

“Hey, pink is great.” Jamie reassured with a tender smile. “And pink it will be. Also you’re a blonde, so a pale pink will fit perfectly on you, ‘specially with your skin complexion, even if you get a light tan until then. Might even brighten up the colour a bit.”

Dani felt Jamie scanning her body. She knew it was a professional eye and professional comments, but the simplest compliments she could get from the woman tickled her stomach with a nervous fire, warming up her chest, neck, and her cheeks. “Thank you…”

Jamie looked up, wondering why Dani’s voice sounded so peculiar to her right then, and found her flushed with a shy smile drawn on her face. She had not meant to fluster Dani, but she was not mad at the effect her words could have on the young woman. But she did not want to make her uncomfortable, so she simply bit the inside of her cheek to repress a grin, tried to distract herself by passing her fingers through her messy curls, clearing her throat before daring to try and speak again. “Right… So, important reception kinda dress. So a long dress, decent cleavage… Unless you want to scandalise the village?” She looked back at Dani with a teasing smile, a challenge.

It worked magic on Dani. The woman laughed right there, holding herself on the table, relaxing into the conversation immediately as if her spine had suddenly regained mobility. Jamie was satisfied with her attempt at easing off that tension between them. Seeing Dani relaxing would make it easier for the next step of the consultation.

“No, the village doesn’t need more scandal on our side.” Dani said as her laughing fades away.

“Noted. Oh, d’you know if the place will be heated up?”

“Definitely, yes. My mother _hates_ the cold during big events...”

“Right, so no need to think about a permanent cover up then. But you’re a- rather average in height.” Jamie said, furrowing her brows as she stands up, looking Dani up and down. “May I?”

It took a second for Dani to understand Jamie wanted to step closer to analyse her figure. “Oh, right! Yeah, sure, of course…” She stood there with her own thoughts and her nervousness while Jamie made her way around the table and came closer to her.

“Is it okay for ya if we take off ya coat?” Jamie asked first. “I’ll take it to the desk closet.”

“Yeah, of course.”

Jamie smiled, waiting for Dani to take the layers off. She took them to the closet like she did with Miss Harrison along with Dani’s purse. When Jamie came back, stepping in Dani’s personal space, she began tracing Dani’s figure with her fingers, never touching Dani but following the lines she was tracing, trying to understand her structure by drawing the outlines she was looking for.

“Yeah, about same height as me… Soft curves…” she said, her hands following the lines of her bust to her hips, never touching though. She went around her and look at her back. “Not willowy, but not curvy for sure. We might want to define ya waist and down ya hips, not to lose these curves here under a complete dress…” she said with a softer voice, her breath puffing against the back of Dani’s neck, who was glad Jamie couldn’t see the way her eyes twitched at the shivering feeling of her closeness, at her every words delicately defining her body.

“Hm… Ya legs look long too, so we should keep that in mind. Don’t wanna make you look shorter.” she heard Dani chuckling, then brought the pad of her fingers to Dani’s shoulders, barely touching. “Can ya move ya hair away from ya neck?” she asked, and Dani pulled her hair up in a pony tail with an elastic band she had around her wrist. “Perfect, thanks…. Yeah, what I thought… Ya got a longer neck, starting right there?” she explained, the pad of her fingers barely touching the base of her skull behind her ears and all the way down to the junction. “That frees that length down your shoulders, you have a nice breathy area right here.” She said, daring to brush the fabric of Dani’s shirt along the area between her neck and shoulders. “Should wear your hair up that day, it’ll show off those definitions nicely.” She offered with a gentle tone.

“Hm-m…!” Dani nodded, unable to stop herself from blushing, feeling every little touch on her skin. “Yeah, I- I generally like to have my hair up, yeah.”

“That’s good… And I’m thinkin’, ya comfortable with see-through and lace on ya clothes?”

“Hum, yeah. Yeah, I like lace.” Dani answered with a soft voice, matching Jamie’s. She looked around and found a mannequin with a lacy bust embroidered with flowery patterns. “Like this one, over there?”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ about a lace bust on ya?” Jamie smiled, coming back around and ghosting Dani’s waistline with her fingers. “Or something similar anyway, a bit see-through but not completely showin’ skin, just the illusion of it. Maybe with flowery patterns? Or I could add flowers on top of the fabric to give it more texture and dimension.”

“Need to sign your clothes with some flowers?” Dani teased but still blushed at.

“Yeah, that’s kinda my thing in case ya hadn’t noticed.” Jamie laughed with Dani. “And then here at the hipbone, have a change of fabrics to mark ya curves, like I said. Maybe somethin’ heavier, like thick silk covered by a layer of see-through? Either lace or georgette, could be chiffon too, don’t know yet… I’m thinkin’ we keep the lightness of the lace going so we don’t break the flow between the bust and the skirt, but we cover ya legs completely with a thicker material that’ll fall and keep a form, and give a bit of a shine in the pink, yeah…?” she asked, then saw Dani nodding. “Could keep some of the flowers too, fallin’ down from the bust, messy here and there down around the hips, but no further than the thigh to keep a clean demarcation.” She thought out loud for Dani. “And to keep ya figure long we could have a naked back? Part of it anyway… With edged embroidered nicely… That something you’d like to wear?” she asked after thinking about it in her mind.

“Yeah! I- I love everything you’re saying.” Dani said bluntly, taken aback by how much she loved listening to Jamie rambling her thoughts to her. “It sounds perfect to me.”

Jamie just looked back at her, her eyes shining with creativity and passion, something humble that she owed to Dani. “Well, you’re a very inspiring canvas.” She simply said.

Dani was thankful Jamie turned around to gribble and sketch on her paper because she could feel her cheeks burning at the words. She put the back of her hands on her cheeks, feeling how hot they were and she tried to cool them down.

“Okay, so if it’s all good with ya we can start measurements?” Jamie asked her, turning back around and seeing Dani taking her hands away from her face quickly. “Ya alright?”

“Yeah! Yeah, perfect.” Dani deflected. “Should I take this off?” she asked, pulling on her sweater.

“Blimey…” Jamie cleared her throat, making Dani laugh. “Gettin’ comfortable, are we?”

“No, seriously? I have a shirt underneath.” Dani chuckled. “So, should I?”

“If ya don’t mind, yeah, that’d be better.” Jamie nodded, walking towards another desk next to the main one, where her small equipment was. She took a notebook, put the flexible tape measure around her neck and came back. “The closer to the skin, the better.”

Dani didn’t answer to that one. Couldn’t find the right answer. She could have said something flirty, but then again the whole Edmund boyfriend situation was out of the bag and now she didn’t know if she could anymore. She had seen the confusion in Jamie’s eyes when it was mentioned and didn’t want to step back into the awkward atmosphere it put them in when now they were both so comfortable around each other this way. Especially considering Jamie was going to be in her personal space for the next ten minutes.

So instead she took her sweater and shoes off and let Jamie discard of them before leading her in front of the mirrors, a trio of them with excellent lightning and a good amount of space for Jamie to work around her body while she took her measurements. She began with the length of her back, from the base of her neck at the bony protrusion, down to the bottom of her spine. Then she took her full back length, down to the floor.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, ya basically as short as I am.” Jamie teased coming back around to write her measurements down.

She continued with the length and circumference of her neck, her fingers brushing on her pulse point and her face getting closer to read the numbers. She hoped Jamie did not notice how quickly the beating of her heart picked up at the sudden closeness. Hoped her breathing did not hit her with the indication she was having such an effect on her. _The closer to the skin, the better_ , echoed in her mind.

Jamie then moved in front of her to take measurements of her shoulders. First from one to the other and individually, which she wrote down before coming back to take the numbers for the arm hole, from the arm pit to the top of the shoulder, and then from shoulder to waist starting from the midpoint on top of the shoulder down to her waistline, which she found by pressing her fingers along Dani’s side to find the right spot on her body. This alone had been enough for Dani to take a quiet deep breath.

“Okay, good.” Jamie murmured with a smile to Dani before writing things down.

She did not seem to have caught on Dani’s reaction to her words. Like she had said to Rebecca, an accent was enough for her to fall into a puddle of mushy pink glittery fluff. Thankfully, Jamie was a bit too busy with taking the measurements of her arms to notice anything. The passion absorbed her for the better, because all Dani could do was stare at her in the mirrors.

Jamie was delicate with her, in a way that made Dani all too self-aware of her growing affection and curiosity for her. From their closeness and the displaying mirrors, she was able to print memories of the tiniest details into her mind to keep her up at night. Jamie’s mole above her brow and the other one on her nose. The bright tip of her nose perking up too, she found rather adorable for reasons unknown to her. She wanted to boop it but only pictured it in her head, which only made her wish she could do it right here and now. The strong muscle of Jamie’s jaw was also a fascinating part of her face structure. It stood out from the sharpness of the bone. The way she bit her cheek and the side of her lips when she was focusing and writing information down, calculating and registering in her mind, only made that muscle work harder. It was a quick work of her mind to have Dani imagine this muscle under the dragging of her own teeth, biting teasingly and making its way up to chuckle teasingly in Jamie’s ear. Jamie who would be flushed with intimidating desire, her neck red and her pulse rapidly beating under the gentle caresses of Dani’s fingers.

“Are ya jeans a good fit?” Jamie asked, which pulled her out of her daydreaming.

“What?” Dani almost jumped, clearly gone too far in a forbidden fantasy. “Sorry, I was-… Sorry.”

“S’okay…! I asked if ya jeans fit ya well.” Jamie said again without any rush.

“Yeah, they are. You- want me to like-… Take them off?” she asked all too flushed with the context of her mind at the moment.

“No, no, ’m just askin’ for the waist, actually. If ya belt ain’t too tight for measuring…” Jamie laughed, just as flushed as Dani was, but managing to talk through.

“I can take the belt off, if you want.” Dani said, bringing her hands to it, seeing Jamie following her movements with her eyes. “It’s more of an accessory. It doesn’t actually hold anything.” She explained.

“Right, then. Suit yaself.” Jamie cleared her throat, finding her tape measure suddenly incredibly distracting from Dani’s gestures. But the sound of the clicking metal and the slipping of the fabrics against each other as Dani slides off the belt was enough for Jamie to picture everything. She could have taken that belt off herself, unbuckling the metallic pieces and bringing her hands around her waist, tracing the edges of the jeans as she slides the belt out slowly, and pulling Dani into her as she does. Their waists flushed, their bodies so very close, her fingers moving to the buttons.

“Okay. All good.” Dani said, handing Jamie her belt.

Jamie turned around and took Dani’s belt, rolling it professionally and putting it aside. She cleared her throat again to bring herself back in the moment and stepped back in closer to continue taking Dani’s measurements. She took the skirt length, from the belly button to the floor, then she meant to move to the waist, from the circumference at the level of Dani’s belly button.

““I’m gonna wrap the tape around ya?” she announced, and got a nod from Dani. “Right, keep ya back well stretched for me? Hold yaself the way you naturally would in a dress.” she asked gently, wrapping the tape around Dani’s waist. “Right, nice. Don’t feel like ya need to hold ya breath or whatever, yeah?” she smiled up at Dani. “Unless ya want me to adjust the dress and make it so it shapes your posture.”

“Thank you…” Dani just said, her eyes a bit watery at how considerate Jamie was. She could tell the woman was incredibly caring of women, which was especially tender to see in the fashion industry.

“Hey, no problem here. I know women can have stomachs, and even organs sometimes.” Jamie nodded as to state some obvious fact, which only made Dani laugh. “Something called a uterus, apparently.”

“Lots of people forget that though, when making dresses for women so… thank you anyway.” Dani murmured tenderly.

“’f course…” Jamie just said. “I’ll move to ya hips then? Ya still good?”

“Of course, yeah.”

“Right. Just move it down then.”

The waist and hips were measurement Jamie was always very delicate with when it came to women especially. The whole waistline and bust area needed thoughtfulness, consideration and lots of checking in with her clients, in her ways of practicing at least. She knew most of them were here knowing what measuring involved but she still always let them know what the was doing, voicing her actions and asking, instead of treating the women like objects and touching them or moving them to her will.

“I know many tailors are delicate with measurements, light with their touch.” She told Dani. “But it’s still touching, ya know? And the job is to do that, so that puts me in a position of power. And I understand that it can be intimidating a bit, even when you know what you come in for. So, I just wanna make sure ya know ya in control here.” She simply smiled, and once again saw the emotional response in Dani’s eyes. “So, Imma ask again, yeah? Are you comfortable with me moving to measuring your hips?”

“God…” Dani felt so embarrassed for the tears that went up her eyes and sniffed them away, shaking her head with a distracting chuckle. “Yes, I am comfortable.” She answered confidently.

“Thank you.” Jamie smiled honestly. “Here, hey…” she moved her hand to Dani’s cheek to catch the tear that escaped her eye. “Come on now…”

How Dani wanted to lean in. How Dani wanted to give in. She had rarely felt a magnetic pull this strong with another woman, and the delicacy, the gentleness, the softness of Jamie’s entire care made it all the harder for her. So she simply let herself be cared for, accepted the caress of Jamie’s thumb across her rosy cheek. She barely knew the woman, that she was aware of, but everything she had learned and had seen of her only fed her need to get to know her.

“Right, let’s continue then.” Jamie smiled to her in a murmur. Again, she moved the tape down Dani’s waistline, settling it to the biggest circumference around her butt and bringing the sides to face her, careful with her movements. “Okay, that’s perfect.” She said, looking down at the number she got. “Good…” she smiled once again at Dani, removing the tape.

Dani could barely catch a breath. Between the closeness, the movements, and the words Jamie used to guide her and she way she said them, the poor girl was just about to explode.

“Gonna move to your bust now, if that’s okay with ya again?” Jamie asked after she wrote the numbers down.

“Sure-” Dani cleared her throat a couple times. “Sure, yeah.”

And so Jamie moved back into Dani’s space, this time bringing the tape around Dani’s bust. She first took the measurement above her breasts, the upper bust, and then moved to Dani’s breasts after asking once again, to measure the biggest circumference around her chest. She looked back up at Dani, a shy expression covering her whole face, leaking through her professionalism.

“Ya, uh… Ya wearing a well-fitted bra?” she asked, feeling her cheeks burning at her own question as she moves the tape down under. “No sports bra, or whateva kinda bra that like- changes your shape?”

“Hum- yeah. It’s a regular one.” Dani answered with a soft tone, also blushing. “Thin fabric. No push-up, or anything… nothing that presses on… yeah, it’s the one that fits best. I’ll wear that one on the day, probably?”

“Right, great.” Jamie quickly said, as she was now trying her best not to lose her professional attitude as she moved the tape in the front and had a vivid picture of Dani in a regular thin bra painted in her mind forever. A bra she would have uncovered by taking the t-shirt she was wearing, with delicate fingers tracing her sides as she goes up, and up, until Dani takes a deep breath in when she gets to her under-breast just to caress the sensitive skin there. She cleared her throat to clear her mind. “I uh… I’m gonna- I’d need to measure from bust point to bust point. So… are ya good with that? or you- wanna do it yaself, maybe? That’s fine with me too.

“No I’m- I’m okay with you- doing it.” Dani answered awkwardly. She could slap herself for her choice of words but she was a bit to focused on trying to stay composed as Jamie measured the distance from the centre of each of her breasts. Her ways of measuring from a small distance just made her want to push in, or pull the brunette, just as if Jamie was shy of touching her the way Dani wished she could allow her to touch. She imagined it so vividly, Jamie’s hands on her right there, assessing her bra under her shirt and moving behind her back to snap it off.

“Okay, that was the last one. We good for now.” Jamie smiled back at Dani.

Dani did not exactly answer with any comprehensive words, but when she saw Jamie stepping away from her, she felt a pinch of disappointment in her chest that didn’t settle well with her. The closeness had been so comfortable, even though it had been shy and flushed and all too inspirational for forbidden fantasies.

She was lost in thoughts and only came back when Jamie presented her a glass of water. She thanked her and took it gladly. What a way of showing each other how thirsty they had gotten without having to say it.

“We still got lots of time.” Jamie told her, checking her watch on her wrist. “What’d ya say we take a wee break and then get back into it for the measurement check?”

Oh had Dani forgotten about the measurement check. The tailors had always measured twice to be sure. And Dani will be sure this second round will be the death of her.

“Sure! I could use a break. I’ve just been working and standing all day.” Dani accepted. “Besides, you did promise me a cup of tea last time.”

Jamie laughed it off at the tease and simply guided Dani to the couple of armchairs in the front of the shop, by the desk, where Jamie had set up a sort of micro living space delimited by a rug, a standing lamp and a simple low bookshelf with magazines and haute-couture books.

They eased into the moment almost instantly after Jamie came back from the backroom with two cups of tea. They talked about Dani’s theatre studies before she became an actress, and about Jamie’s fashion studies in London. They talked about Hannah, Owen and Rebecca, about who they were back then and who they’d become to this day. Then came the question every artist asks to a fellow artist at one point or another according to Dani’s experience. An intimate question about art, about life, and about the artist in the world. And Dani could not be mad at either of them for easily reaching that stage so quickly. It was all too easy between them.

“So, what is it about this artform that drew you to it?” Dani asked.

“What’d ya mean?” Jamie grinned amusingly, settling in the back of her chair.

“I mean, you could’ve picked anything, right? Unless there was this _calling_ we all kinda felt. You could’ve been a ballerina…”

“Surely not.” Jamie said before laughing.

“A cook.”

“If you wanna get poisoned.”

“A sculptor.”

“With Picasso as a mentor, yeah.”

“See, you’re proving my point here, kinda!” Dani laughed along with Jamie. “You could have had a calling for any artform, like any other artist, so why this one? Why fashion, fabrics and- pincushions…?” Dani asked then, disctracted by these pincushions right beside her on the desk. “Oh, these are fun, wait…!”

She looked at Jamie with a question and the brunette simply chuckled and nodded back, so Dani picked up the red wrist pincushion to play with it.

“Is that what drew you to the fashion world? Pincushions? Because these are super cute, they would’ve been _my_ reason.”

“They are fun to play with, I’ll give you that.” Jamie chuckled, something in her chest fluttering at Dani adorable fascination for such a banal equipment for her. “But no, pincushion came after. ’S kind of a long story, actually. One that would require more booze and more free time.”

“No pressure.” Dani reassured softly, still playing with the pins on the pincushion. “Don’t worry, I get it. Hopefully one day we’ll get more time and more alcohol though.” She smiled. “A long story for a long story, yeah?” she dared to ask.

“Hope so too, yeah. Would love that.” Jamie answered gently, halfway through a vivid image of herself and Dani sitting in some other place that didn’t involve work, with a bottle of wine and a couple things to eat, the both of them in beautiful attires in the comfort of some home. “But to give you a small picture of it, I was a pretty messy kid back then, and an ol’ lady was nice enough to teach me how to patch things up instead of havin’ to buy me some new clothes every week.”

“You, a troublemaker? Was, that is _such_ a hard thing to picture…” Dani teased with an obviousness that was almost too bold.

“Alright, Miss thing, don’t-”

“Truly a shocking new information to add to your character.” Dani keeps playing. “Could have fooled me.”

“I’m gonna mess up your boob cage so ya look flatter than ya man.” Jamie threatened sipping her tea then.

“Oh you wouldn’t…”

“Nah, ya right, I wouldn’t.” she answers, chuckling.

“You love your job too much to do that.” Dani understands and says as a matter of fact.

“Well, ya know how it is. When ya job is like…” she makes gestures to try and word it out, “’s like a piece of ya mind in the moment brought to life. Lit’rally can look and feel different dependin’ on ya mood. Which makes every piece all the more unique and truly _you_.”

“Oh, yeah, I do get that. Did you try and look at your pieces before and after a mood swing?” Dani asked, getting a strong approval from Jamie. “I remember when I was recording tapes, you know, for auditions and stuff? One of them I did for my first movie really proved me that even though I’m supposed to be 100% _not Dani_ , my real mood still affects my acting.”

“Really? Thought that was kinda the point.” Jamie smiled curiously, thinking then. “Always kind of envied Becca and Owen for that, to be honest actually. Thought it could be pretty useful to dive into some other character’s life to avoid feelin’ real stuff for a second there.” She chuckled, looking down as she reflects on something that was long gone in time. “Kind of a nifty escape y’all actors get to have at your disposal whenever.”

“I see what you mean…” Dani nodded, shyly as she thinks about it. “Sometimes I-… I use work to escape reality. Just for a few minutes I get to be someone else, or another Dani if I’m not working but I feel the need to flee. And I kind of- yeah… I force myself into another life and another state of mind.”

“Ain’t that a lil’ sad?” Jamie asked, frowning in wonder.

“Well, not always. Can be useful, like you said. Sometimes I’ll just use my acting tricks to appear more composed than I really am… Which can make me feel a bit guilty afterwards, yeah. Because instead of actually _being_ confident, of _being_ truly in control, whatever it is I should be in the moment, in the end I’m just pretending to be those things. And deep down the real Dani is just anxious and shy.”

She looked back at Jamie and saw no judgement in her eyes. Instead, she saw understanding and an encouraging nod that made her want to share more. And so she did.

“I remember when I was taping, I once did sixteen different takes of the same scene to get a role.”

“Sixteen?!”

“Yeah, I was just starting and wasn’t confident in my acting at all. Didn’t know much about self-tapes either so… Baby Dani was just thriving for absolute perfection without realizing how much exhaustion it was causing her.”

“I can relate to that.” Jamie sigh with a smile, feeling very much understood.

“I looked at tape one, then tape six or so, and tape sixteen… and I could see how my real mood affected my acting even though I was fully in character. Tape one is always the one you’ll ditch.” She smiles fondly at the memories. “It’s the trial one, like stretching before a workout. So you see everything wrong with it, nothing’s right, and you don’t even care much about it except for little things you got right because you just understood the meaning behind the lines on the script beforehand… But you just move on quickly from that one really, especially if it’s the very first time you portrayed it.”

She explained easily, always getting a nod from Jamie, who was waiting for every word she could get from the blonde. This, Dani thought, was the best kind of feeling. To feel listened to, to feel interesting.

“And I could see in that tape how _Dani_ , the actress behind the character, knew that this tape was gonna be ditched. I saw a hint of carelessness in my acting, something a bit lazy… Tape four through nine I remember were much better. The character was well shaped, like a second skin, and the atmosphere was set and stable. The character’s feelings were portrayed louder, compared to my own real feelings that were numbed. I was 100% in the character’s thoughts and behaviour. There was determination and confidence in these tapes. I think I sent three of those in the end, yeah… But then tape sixteen… God, I was so tired by then…!”

Dani began laughing, joined quickly by Jamie who filled Dani’s cup of tea again and almost poured some drops out when she didn’t expect to laugh.

“That’s why I stopped after that one.” Dani said with a huge smile that echoed her laugh. “You should have seen it, the way I would end my sentences with a sigh in my voice, and the way my eyes drifted sideways, looking for a way out of it. I looked so annoyed… And that wasn’t what the character was meant to show at all, that was just _Dani_ , me, being tired of playing the same thing over and over again.”

“Yeah, I remember Recca tellin’ me somethin’ like that once, so I can imagine. She came back exhausted from a rehearsal back when she was in theatre in London and we lived together. She came knockin’ at my bedroom door where I was workin’ on some project, sayin’ she’d been rehearsin’ the same scene again an’ again.” Jamie said, miming it with her hands. “And it drained her empty. She ended up fallin’ asleep in my bed that afternoon and I had to sleep on the fuckin’ couch.”

Dani joined in as they began to laugh about it. She felt an easy feeling streaming through her mind, about how simple it was to talk to Jamie and how relatable their stories and their views on things were. It was rare to find someone who could tell a different life with a similar feel to it.

“Yeah, Becca told me about how she’d come to you pretty often.” Dani shared fondly, blushing as she tries to compliment the young woman. She fidgets with the pincushion once again as she shares. “The way she talks about it… it’s very tender.”

“Waw, Miss Clayton, please, I might blush now.” Jamie chuckled though she was already blushing.

“It’s true, though! She said she’d come settle in your room a lot, because it was where you worked on your pieces and it was a place of inspiration for her. You helped her a lot at the time.”

“My, my… This Becca…” Jamie blushed harder, reaching for her cup of tea again.

“I’m not saying that to make you uncomfortable, by the way, just wanted to-… I don’t know… just wanted to let you know people are impacted by your art. From beginning to end.”

“Well…” she cleared her throat with a shy smile. “Thank ya, I guess… Not very good with compliments but I, ah… yeah. Thanks.”

“Of course.” Dani smiled. “And it shows, you know, the way you care so much about your clients, and make sure they’re listened to, and explained almost everything you’ll be doing with them… I can see it matters to you just as much as the creative part.”

“Well, I just think the whole process of consultin’ and measurin’ is part of the creation, really.” Jamie tried to explain on her side. “Because it’s like… when someone wears one of my pieces, they- sorta wear a piece of me, y’know? So it’s important to me, for them to know my ways and for me to know theirs. They experience a part of me through wearing my clothes. Don’t know if that makes much sense but… that’s how I see it, I guess.” Jamie ended her sentence with a shy smile, a sort of humble pride of her vision that Dani found endearing.

“I get it, yeah. And- it’s kinda funny, actually, the way you say it.” Dani smiled, blushing slightly at the thought herself. “We were talking about this vision of our art, me and Rebecca, this morning.”

“Yeah?”

“I see it as _we_ being experiencers. All of us are.” Dani told her. “That’s how I explained my vision of acting. Of what acting as an art feels like to me, and how I live it… We are all experiencers on this Earth. We all live life and experience it in a unique personal way. And as an actress, I feed and portray my art with other people’s experiences. I take theirs and I portray it _for_ them. And by doing that, I can reach out through my platforms and my networks, so that more people can _see them,_ see _these_ experiencers in particular, but through me. I feel like a messenger, in a way. And it’s the most humbling feeling, to feel like I have such a responsibility on my shoulders. My purpose as an actor is to experience what others experience, and to portray it artistically for people. And since many people watch me portray this or that, it helps people see each other, but through me. Actors are vessels, or like mirrors reflecting on both sides. Someone sees themselves through us, and another sees that person too. And just like that, people are suddenly connected and aware of one another, even when they’re oceans apart.”

“Sounds like you’re only actin’ for others.” Jamie smiled at Dani, tenderly. “Aren’t you actin’ for yourself too? To be that blank canvas suddenly painted with emotions and experiences?”

“I mean, of course, yeah.” Dani smiled, admitting it with a laugh along with the brunette. “Of course I act because that’s what I thrive to be doing. Emptying Dani and becoming an entirely new story is something that’s just so… it’s like almost a spiritual experience for me, you know. It’s kinda cliché to say it that way, the whole ‘spiritual experience’ thing… But being someone else while also knowing I am me, that’s really something I find incredibly. It’s like being able to understand life beyond your own understanding.”

“That’s a pretty good cliché, if ya ask me.” Jamie reassured then.

“But art is both a selfish act and a generous act, like you said. So, yeah I do act because it’s what I want to do, but I care immensely about how others think of my art too.”

“Yeah, I guess somebody comin’ in to tell me I’m a shit hatter and my fittings are crap would probably piss me off.” Jamie agreed, making Dani laugh.

“See! That’s why when I have people telling me, ‘ _I see me when I see you on screen_ ’, or ‘ _you see me, and I thank you for that_ ’, that’s when I truly get to live the _full_ experience of what it is to be the actress I want to be.” Dani continued, feeling a burning passion in her chest as she expresses herself, and only being met with a similar passion in Jamie’s understanding eyes. “That’s when the purpose of my art goes full circle to me. Of course it starts with me experiencing a _you_ , and then you experiencing yourself through _me_. But if everyone can see one another through art, it becomes _us_.”

“Very humanist, this Miss Clayton.” Jamie smiled tenderly, with an admiration that Dani blushed at when she caught it in her eyes. “Very pretty mind she got…”

Jamie then looked back at her cup of tea when she saw the adoring admiration she got back from the blonde. She had to do something before losing her cool and control. Dani was just too irresistible not to want to be absorbed in her world. But there was something in that world that Jamie would not fight over.

“So, aside from friends and colleagues,” Jamie began with a tight tease in her throat. “How does that husband at heart’s treatin’ ya?”

“He- okay,” Dani laughed with Jamie when she realize she totally bit at the tease. “I told you, Edmund isn’t my husband, far from that.” she still reminded Jamie. “And he treats me very well, thank you for your concern…”

“Don’t mind me, just a good ol’ tease, nothin’ mean to it.”

“I know.” Dani smiled, but then her smile faded away a bit, thinking about Eddie. “It’s actually been a little harder to talk about him these past few weeks. So I appreciate a good laugh around that.”

“What’d ya mean?” Jamie asked, her brows furrowing.

“His father passed away two months ago.” Dani said, and immediately she saw she understanding and the empathetic hurt in Jamie’s eyes. “Yeah, he- hum… Eddie’s going through a hard grief. They were really close. We all are, back home. So it’s been hard for everyone really… Judy, his mother, she’s been so hard to read since then. She’s been crying so much, but she’s naturally such a positive force of nature, she always smiles and laughs, so even now she still does it. But you can see that it’s become a defence mechanism to make us believe she’s doing better than she really is. And my mom, well, she’s always been a handful with her hands full.” Dani said, raising her brows at the annoyance of that thought. “But she’s always been like that, and now even more… don’t get me wrong, she’s a phenomenal woman. She’s independent, and strong, caring… But even though she’s all these things, I mean-… taking care of a friend recently widowed when she’s a widow herself…” she said, then bowing her head to look at the way she picked at her nails and fingers, gulping as she tries to collect herself.

“Oh, Dani…” Jamie murmured, understanding what didn’t need to be said.

“I lost my dad when I was little, and Alfred was basically like a father to me my whole life so…”

Before she could find any more words to voice her pain, she felt an incredibly soft touch cover her hands and then another cupping her cheek. She had not notice the tears falling down her cheeks seconds ago, she had been so used to them. But Jamie had stopped their track and wiped them away with her thumb. She gently pulled Dani’s hands apart so she would not be able to hurt herself and then looked back up at her with a sincere sadness that Dani had rarely seen in anyone’s eyes ever since Alfred’s death.

But here was Jamie, kneeling in front of her, kissing her hand, closing her eyes as she does, and kissing her knuckles she’d just been scratching.

“Don’t hurt yarself more than you’re hurtin’.” was all that Jamie could say. “Please…”

The whispered plead had reached Dani’s heart in the gentlest course through her chest. It was the same gentleness she never expected from these calloused hands, the same softness she had been surprised by when she heard Jamie’s laugh after the raspy tone of her voice. Jamie had been a surprise from the beginning, a gift wrapped in a beautifully portrayed banality that made her all the more tempting as Dani kept on uncovering its every layers.

And here was Dani, feeling herself standing over an edge she did not know she was standing so close from. Maybe was it the same edge as the porcelain vase, trembling under the instability, under the tempting gravity that was Jamie’s welcoming existence. This dangerously easy comfort that Jamie could offer, so dangerously easy that this comfort – Dani knew it – would be the most shattering fall she could ever take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you expect the lil hints of fantasized intimacy there? Just a lil appetizer... I hope you don't mind it, btw, because there WILL be smut in later chapters (marked with an '-M' in the title).  
> But what did you think of it all so far? I'm curious, since it's my first Damie fic.
> 
> Hope you'll stick around for the next update? Hopefully I can get it up before the 21st, if uni is nice with me. And you can also come say hi on insta if you want! My @ is 'poppins.flirt' , I post some stuff about Bly, including fic recommendations, crack!posts, stuff I thought about, and more! All with a hint of humour when I can because that show is depressing enough, we need a laugh!


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